Cardiac safety is one of the main causes of trial delay and drug abandonment. Assessment of drug-induced proarrhythmic risk and cardiac dysfunction at multiple levels is critical to modern cardiac safety screening. Aurora offers various functional assays to assess cardiac safety including the action potential of Purkinje fibers as an important site for the initiation of arrhythmias. They are particularly sensitive to hERG inhibition and therefore to drug-induced prolongation of action potential duration (APD) and early after depolarization (EAD). Compared to ventricular muscles, Purkinje fibers may be a better model for studying QT prolongation-related torsade de Pointes (TdP). Aurora offers physiologically relevant rabbit whole-ventricle Purkinje fibers preparation for assessment of drug effect on action potential duration. In addition, Aurora uses arrhythmia model assays to investigate cardiac functionality. Emerging evidence against using QT prolongation as a surrogate maker of proarrhythmia necessitates the need for adopting more predictable drug testing models. Aurora provides a clinically relevant rabbit Torsades de Pointes (TdP) model to assess compound effects on ECG intervals and their proarrhythmic and anti-arrhythmic potential. Moreover left ventricular pressure-volume analysis in rats also provides insights into pharmacological impacts on cardiac systolic and diastolic function in anesthetized animals. Aurora uses the SciSense Admittance PV-Catheter technology to accurately measure left ventricular pressure and volume in real-time.
Aurora Contract Research Services, using label-free technology and various animal models helps to make your drug discovery experimental design and data interpretation fast and easy. Contact us for a more in-depth discussion on how our provided assays can be customized to meet your specific goals.