© 2005 The European Society of Cardiology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
A membrane model of electrically remodelled atrial myocardium derived from in vivo measurements*
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University P.O. Box 90281, 136 Hudson Hall, Durham, NC 27708, USA
AIMS: Contemporary ionic-based membrane models are computationally expensive and are not intended to match the properties of a given experimental preparation. The aim of this work was to use measured restitution properties of electrically remodelled atrial tissue to develop a simplified membrane model based on the Fenton–Karma (FK) equations amenable to large-scale simulation of chronic atrial fibrillation (CAF).
METHODS: Two membrane models, the FK-CAF and FK-CNTRL parameter sets, were developed to match action potential duration (APD) and conduction velocity (CV) restitution properties of rapid-pacing-induced electrically remodelled sheep atria and healthy atria, respectively. The models were tested by inducing reentry in a two-dimensional anisotropic monodomain and comparing the resulting cycle lengths (CL) with measured CLs.
RESULTS: Parameters for the FK models were obtained that reproduced APD and CV restitution properties measured in the CAF and healthy sheep atria. Using the FK-CAF parameters, reentry was sustained in a 2.5 by 2.5 cm sheet with a CL = 91.0 ± 3.0 ms. Reentry (CL = 113.2 ± 5.2 ms) could only be sustained in the FK-CNTRL model after the tissue was first activated at a fast rate (136.5 ms).
CONCLUSIONS: The FK-CAF model is shown to approximate the restitution properties of remodelled sheep atria and can be used to simulate reentry with short CLs similar to those measured during AF episodes.
Key Words: atrial fibrillation, Fenton–Karma model, action potential duration restitution, conduction velocity restitution
*Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 919 660 5114; fax: +1 919 684 4488. E-mail addresses: amygoodman{at}gmail.com (A.M. Goodman), patrick.wolf{at}duke.edu (P.D. Wolf).