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Cardiac Action Potential

Cardiac Action Potential

Cardiac action potentials are essential for proper heart function, enabling the rhythmic contractions needed for adequate blood circulation. Nodal cells and Purkinje fibers, specialized for electrical conduction, generate these action potentials.
The cardiac action potential process involves a series of phases characterized by the movement of ions across the cardiac cell membranes, leading to the depolarization and repolarization of the cardiac myocytes.
Ionic Basis of Cardiac Action Potentials

Propagation of Action Potentials

Propagation of Action Potentials

The propagation of an action potential refers to the process by which a nerve impulse, or "action potential," travels along a neuron.
Neurons (nerve cells) have a resting membrane potential, with a slightly negative charge inside compared to outside. This is maintained by ion channels, such as sodium (Na+) and potassium (K+) channels, which control the flow of ions. When a stimulus, like a touch or a signal from another neuron, triggers the neuron, sodium channels open, allowing sodium ions to...

Electrophysiology of Normal Cardiac Rhythm

Electrophysiology of Normal Cardiac Rhythm

The normal cardiac rhythm is a synchronized electrical activity that facilitates the regular and coordinated contraction of the heart muscle. This process is essential for efficient blood circulation throughout the body. The fundamental elements involved in establishing and maintaining this rhythm include the unique electrical properties of cardiac muscle cells, the sinoatrial (SA) node's pacemaker function, the specialized conducting system, and the ionic mechanisms underlying each phase of...

Action Potential: Phases of Stimulation

Action Potential: Phases of Stimulation

The action potential is a complex electrical event that occurs in excitable cells, such as neurons and muscle cells. It consists of several distinct phases, each with specific characteristics.
Resting Phase:
In this phase, the cell's membrane is at its resting potential, typically around -70 millivolts (mV) for neurons. Inside the cell, there is a higher concentration of potassium ions (K+) and a lower concentration of sodium ions (Na+). Voltage-gated sodium channels are closed, and...

Action Potentials

Action Potentials

Correlation between ECG and Cardiac Cycle

Correlation between ECG and Cardiac Cycle

The electrical signals recorded on an electrocardiogram (ECG) occur before the mechanical processes of contraction and relaxation during the cardiac cycle.
A cardiac action potential originates in the SA node and spreads throughout the atria and the AV node in approximately 0.03 seconds. This results in the P wave in an ECG and triggers atrial contraction. The action potential is then briefly slowed at the AV node, allowing the atria to contract and fill the ventricles with blood before...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 16, 2026

Patient-specific Modeling of the Heart: Estimation of Ventricular Fiber Orientations

Patient-specific Modeling of the Heart: Estimation of Ventricular Fiber Orientations

Published on: January 8, 2013

Cardiac dynamics: a simplified model for action potential propagation.

Angelina Peñaranda¹, Inma R Cantalapiedra, Jean Bragard

¹Departament de Física Aplicada, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, BarcelonaTech, Av, Dr, Marañon 44-50, 08028 Barcelona, Spain. angelina.penaranda@upc.edu

Theoretical Biology & Medical Modelling

|December 1, 2012

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

This study presents a simplified cardiac myocyte model that accurately reproduces action potential shapes and restitution properties. This computationally efficient model aids in studying cardiac electrical instabilities and wave propagation.

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Last Updated: May 16, 2026

Patient-specific Modeling of the Heart: Estimation of Ventricular Fiber Orientations

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Area of Science:

Computational Biology
Cardiac Electrophysiology
Biophysics

Background:

Existing detailed electrophysiological models are computationally intensive.
Semiphysiological models offer a balance between accuracy and computational cost.
Understanding cardiac tissue re-excitation and reentry is crucial for diagnosing arrhythmias.

Purpose of the Study:

To analyze and validate a new semiphysiological ionic model for cardiac tissue.
To assess the model's ability to reproduce action potential morphologies and restitution curves.
To evaluate the model's utility in simulating cardiac electrical phenomena, including wave propagation.

Main Methods:

Developed a semiphysiological ionic model categorizing ion currents into four functional groups.
Simulated the model in isolated myocytes to analyze action potential (AP) and restitution properties.
Extended simulations to a cable model to assess conduction velocity (CV) and to a 2D ventricular model for AP propagation and ECG analysis.

Main Results:

The model accurately reproduces AP morphology, including the phase 1 notch.
It captures the rate-dependent changes in AP and CV observed experimentally and in detailed models.
Simulations in a rabbit ventricle model show good qualitative agreement for AP propagation and ECG.

Conclusions:

The simplified semiphysiological model is computationally efficient yet accurately represents cardiac myocyte electrical properties.
It successfully reproduces key electrophysiological phenomena, including restitution properties and AP morphology.
This model serves as a viable alternative to complex models for studying wave propagation instabilities in cardiac tissue.