Abstract:

The signals of calcium ions in single rat heart cell were studied by means of  a total internal reflection fluorescence microscope  made by the theory of near-field optics. The results show  that Ca²⁺ signals can be detected clearly under the illumination of evanescence which only penetrated cell about 100 nm.  Ca²⁺ signals in single  heart cell show Ca²⁺ sparks, Ca²⁺ target waves, Ca²⁺ plane waves and Ca²⁺ spiral waves, and these forms interact to  each other. Further more,   single heart cells show strong excitability under calcium\|induced calcium release mechanism.

Key words: total internal reflection fluorescence microscope (TIRFM), Ca2+ spark, Ca2+ spiral wave, calcium\, induced calcium release (CICR), excitability