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Cardiac spheroids as a human model for inflammation induced cardiac dysfunction

This article, published recently in the journal Biofabrication, demonstrates the utility of human cardiac spheroids to investigate the effects of inflammation on cardiac dysfunction. While treatment with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to induce inflammation did not result in obvious cytotoxicity, it did result in significant transcriptional and translational changes as well as reduced metabolism. Importantly, LPS-induced inflammation also impaired contractility kinetics, including reduced beat rate along with slower shortening and relaxation kinetics, validating the use of spheroids in modeling inflammation-induced dysfunction.

The researchers trusted their IonOptix CytoMotion Lite system equipped with CytoSolver for contractility data acquisition and analysis. CytoMotion Lite is low-cost solution offering fast, real-time characterization of contractility kinetics from stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes. Please contact us if you’re interested in performing similar functional measurements in iPSC-CM monolayers, spheroids, or organoids in your lab.

Athlin S, Steger N, Thazhath-Veettil J, Gentile C, Demirel I, Sirsjö A, Kienesberger PC, Nordenskjöld A, Paramel GV. Cardiac spheroids as a human model for inflammation induced cardiac dysfunction. Biofabrication. 2026 Mar 11;18(2). doi: 10.1088/1758-5090/ae4ad7.