Design of a LabVIEW-Based Virtual Instrument for Langendorff-Prepared Isolated Heart Experiments

Isolated heart preparations have the advantage of being void of confounding humoral and neuronal input when studying its response to drugs or other interventions. Dynamic changes in left ventricular pressure (LVP) and its derivatives, coronary flow and perfusion pressure, electrocardiogram (ECG), and other variables can be assessed over time. However, a reliable data acquisition system (DAS) is critical to successfully conduct a meaningful experiment. Plug-and-play DAS often have the disadvantage of limited flexibility because of proprietary software, limited programmability and/or required specific signal conditioning systems. In contrast, LabVIEW allows maximal user flexibility, but requires a significant amount of programming before use. We report the design and operation of a LabVIEW-based Virtual Instrument (VI) for Langendorff-prepared isolated heart experiments. All analog inputs from various signal conditioners are fed into an analog-digital converter controlled by the VI's DA assistant and sample...