Inhibition of focal adhesion kinase increases myofibril viscosity in cardiac myocytes

Taneja N,  Bersi MR,  Rasmussen ML,  Gama V,  Merryman WD,  Burnette DT

Cytoskeleton, 2020

Summary:

Myofibrils are the functional contractile units of force production for individual cardiomyocytes.  This generation of mechanical force is required for proper heart function.  

In this report, the authors showed that inhibition of FAK resulted in increased viscous damping of myofibril, however this damping was not associated with acute changes in the electrophysiological properties of the cardiomyocytes.

Axion's MEA system was used to record label-free and non-invasively the field potential of thousands of hiCMs.  The recorded data showed that the inhibition of FAK activity by treatment with either PF‐228 or Defactinib had no effect on the beat period, spike amplitude or field potential duration.