{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]],"date-time":"2026-10-02T13:53:58Z","timestamp":1790949238697,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,15]],"date-time":"2025-07-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1752537600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Stichting Vrienden van het Sophia","award":["SSWO 21-064"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["SSWO 21-064"]}]},{"name":"Stichting Vrienden van het Sophia","award":["CEI 03-001-2021-T105"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CEI 03-001-2021-T105"]}]},{"name":"Nederlandse Hartstichting","award":["SSWO 21-064"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["SSWO 21-064"]}]},{"name":"Nederlandse Hartstichting","award":["CEI 03-001-2021-T105"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CEI 03-001-2021-T105"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JCDD"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Living myocardial slices (LMSs) have shown great promise in cardiac research, allowing multicellular and complex interplay analyses with disease and patient specificity, yet their wider clinical use is limited by the large tissue sizes usually required. We therefore produced mini-LMSs (&lt;10 mm2) from routine human cardiac surgery specimens and compared them with medium (10\u201330 mm2) and large (&gt;30 mm2) slices. Size effects on biomechanical properties were examined with mathematical modeling, and viability, contraction profiles, and histological integrity were followed for 14 days. In total, 34 mini-, 25 medium, and 30 large LMS were maintained viable, the smallest measuring only 2 mm2. Peak twitch force proved to be size-independent, whereas time-to-peak shortened as slice area decreased. Downsized LMSs displayed excellent contractile behavior for five to six days, after which a gradual functional decline and micro-architectural changes emerged. These findings confirm, for the first time, that mini-LMSs are feasible and viable, enabling short-term, patient-specific functional studies and pharmacological testing when tissue is scarce.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jcdd12070269","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,15]],"date-time":"2025-07-15T11:52:58Z","timestamp":1752580378000},"page":"269","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Viability and Longevity of Human Miniaturized Living Myocardial Slices"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-2383-0421","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ziyu","family":"Zhou","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Translational Cardiothoracic Surgery Research Lab, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Erasmus Medical Center, 3015 GD Rotterdam, The Netherlands"},{"name":"Unit Translational Electrophysiology, Department of Cardiology, Erasmus University Medical Center, 3015 GD Rotterdam, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yvar P.","family":"van Steenis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Translational Cardiothoracic Surgery Research Lab, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Erasmus Medical Center, 3015 GD Rotterdam, The Netherlands"},{"name":"Unit Translational Electrophysiology, Department of Cardiology, Erasmus University Medical Center, 3015 GD Rotterdam, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Surya","family":"Henry","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Erasmus Medical Center, Sophia Children\u2019s Hospital, 3015 GD Rotterdam, The Netherlands"},{"name":"Department of Cell Biology, Erasmus Medical Center, 3015 GD Rotterdam, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Elisa C. H.","family":"van Doorn","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Translational Cardiothoracic Surgery Research Lab, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Erasmus Medical Center, 3015 GD Rotterdam, The Netherlands"},{"name":"Unit Translational Electrophysiology, Department of Cardiology, Erasmus University Medical Center, 3015 GD Rotterdam, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0305-1271","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jorik H.","family":"Amesz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Translational Cardiothoracic Surgery Research Lab, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Erasmus Medical Center, 3015 GD Rotterdam, The Netherlands"},{"name":"Unit Translational Electrophysiology, Department of Cardiology, Erasmus University Medical Center, 3015 GD Rotterdam, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Pieter C.","family":"van de Woestijne","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Translational Cardiothoracic Surgery Research Lab, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Erasmus Medical Center, 3015 GD Rotterdam, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0259-6691","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Natasja M. S.","family":"de Groot","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit Translational Electrophysiology, Department of Cardiology, Erasmus University Medical Center, 3015 GD Rotterdam, The Netherlands"},{"name":"Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Sciences, Circuits and Systems, Department of Microelectronics, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2202-7314","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Olivier C.","family":"Manintveld","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiology, Erasmus Medical Center, 3015 GD Rotterdam, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3151-2474","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Beatrijs","family":"Bartelds","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Erasmus Medical Center, Sophia Children\u2019s Hospital, 3015 GD Rotterdam, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yannick J. H. J.","family":"Taverne","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Translational Cardiothoracic Surgery Research Lab, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Erasmus Medical Center, 3015 GD Rotterdam, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2405","DOI":"10.1093\/eurheartj\/ehz779","article-title":"Living myocardial slices: A novel multicellular model for cardiac translational research","volume":"41","author":"Perbellini","year":"2020","journal-title":"Eur. Heart J."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Amesz, J.H., Zhang, L., Everts, B.R., De Groot, N.M.S., and Taverne, Y. (2023). Living myocardial slices: Advancing arrhythmia research. Front. 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