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Updated: Aug 18, 2026
Assessment of Myofilament Ca2+ Sensitivity Underlying Cardiac Excitation-contraction Coupling
Published on: August 1, 2016
Action potential propagation in inhomogeneous cardiac tissue: safety factor considerations and ionic mechanism
1Cardiac Bioelectricity Research and Training Center, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106-7207, USA.
Abstract:
Heterogeneity of myocardial structure and membrane excitability is accentuated by pathology and remodeling. In this study, a detailed model of the ventricular myocyte in a multicellular fiber was used to compute a location-dependent quantitative measure of conduction (safety factor, SF) and to determine the kinetics and contribution of sodium current (I(Na)) and L-type calcium current [I(Ca(L))] during conduction. We obtained the following results. 1) SF decreases sharply for propagation into regions of increased electrical load (tissue expansion, increased gap junction coupling, reduced excitability, hyperkalemia); it can be <1 locally (a value indicating conduction failure) and can recover beyond the transition region to resume propagation. 2) SF and propagation across inhomogeneities involve major contribution from I(Ca(L)). 3) Modulating I(Na) or I(Ca(L)) (by blocking agents or calcium overload) can cause unidirectional block in the inhomogeneous region. 4) Structural inhomogeneity causes local augmentation of I(Ca(L)) and suppression of I(Na) in a feedback fashion. 5) Propagation across regions of suppressed I(Na) is achieved via a I(Ca(L))-dependent mechanism. 6) Reduced intercellular coupling can effectively compensate for reduced SF caused by tissue expansion but not by reduced membrane excitability.
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