The presented method offers a way to detect functional effective cardiotropic autoantibodies in the plasma of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy, irrespective of the specific antigen, by analysing the impact of isolated patient immunoglobulin on cellular shortening and intracellular calcium transients in isolated rat cardiomyocytes.
Eckerle, L. G., Felix, S. B., Herda, L. R. Measurement of Antibody Effects on Cellular Function of Isolated Cardiomyocytes. J. Vis. Exp. (73), e4237, doi:10.3791/4237 (2013).