# Hyperspectral Mapping of Cardiac Excitation and Contraction Dynamics

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2021 · $156,000

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
This is an R21 proposal for an exploratory research aiming to establish the initial steps toward a novel in vivo
mapping technology to transform the clinical study of mechanical and electrical activation waves in the heart.
The dynamic mechanical cardiac contraction is two-way coupled to the complex activity associated with dynamic
electrical excitations. Disorders in the contraction and excitation dynamical actions, as well as the dissociation
in their spatiotemporal coupling, underlie many abnormal conditions, including fatal heart failure and arrhythmias.
Our long term goal is to develop a paradigm-shifting approach for studying the highly coupled and dynamic
electrical and mechanical activities in the heart in vivo; the central premise of this proposal is that a simultaneous
spatiotemporal mapping capable of resolving the mechanical and the electrical activities is critical for
understanding mechanisms of health and disease in the heart. Information on the separated dynamical patterns
of contraction and excitation waves will enable determining their individual and cooperative role in cardiac
disease. Thus, the general objective of this proposal is to demonstrate the feasibility of a new label-free photonics
approach for imaging the spatiotemporal patterns of mechanical and electrical associated activities to provide
multi-parametric insight into mechanisms of dynamical excitation and contractility. Our developments will be
based on movie-format imaging of the heart at short-wave infrared (SWIR; ~1-2.5 µm) light range, which has
relatively low blood absorbance and scattering, and which has been proposed recently for both deep tissue and
in vivo studies. We propose to use here the sheep heart as a platform model to test the general hypothesis that
label-free hyperspectral SWIR light imaging will simultaneously characterize the separated dynamical nature of
factors associated with electrical and mechanical cardiac activity. The specific aims in this launching project are
as follows: Aim 1: To demonstrate the separability between intrinsic hyperspectral SWIR light imaging of cellular
electrical and contraction associated activities. Here we will identify wavelengths in the SWIR range whose
absorbance level is specific to the action potential or the contraction in the cell. Aim 2: To determine the
differential sensitivity of SWIR light imaging to modulations of the cellular action potential by membrane currents
regulators. The correlation between the time-course of the hyperspectral light absorbance and the action
potential and contraction will enable a physiological interpretation of the imaging. Aim 3: To demonstrate in blood
perfused isolated sheep hearts the relationship between surface reflectance of specific SWIR light bands and
propagation of electrical and mechanical associated waves. Here we will optimize the new mapping method for
future in vivo clinical application. For example, the foreseen new photonic-based a...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10225565
- **Project number:** 5R21HL153694-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** JUSTUS M ANUMONWO
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $156,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-08-01 → 2023-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10225565

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10225565, Hyperspectral Mapping of Cardiac Excitation and Contraction Dynamics (5R21HL153694-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10225565. Licensed CC0.

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