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Related Concept Videos

Anatomy of the Heart01:27

Anatomy of the Heart

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The human heart is made up of three layers of tissue that are surrounded by the pericardium, a membrane that protects and confines the heart. The outermost layer, closest to the pericardium, is the epicardium. The pericardial cavity separates the pericardium from the epicardium. Beneath the epicardium is the myocardium, the middle layer, and the endocardium, the innermost layer. There are four chambers of the heart: the right atrium, the right ventricle, the left atrium, and the left ventricle.
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Anatomy of the Heart01:20

Anatomy of the Heart

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The heart is a hollow, muscular organ approximately the size of a fist, consisting of four chambers. It is enclosed in the pericardium, a fibrous sac with two layers: the visceral and parietal pericardium, separated by a fluid-filled space containing serous fluid to reduce friction.
The heart has three layers: the innermost endocardium, the muscular myocardium, and the outer epicardium, all working together for optimal cardiac function.
Chambers of the Heart
The heart is made up of four...
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Development of the Heart01:27

Development of the Heart

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The development of the human heart, a crucial organ, commences from the mesoderm on the 18th or 19th day after fertilization. This process initiates in the cardiogenic area, a group of mesodermal cells at the embryo's head end, which evolves into elongated strands known as cardiogenic cords. These cords undergo a transformation to form hollow-centered endocardial tubes.
As the embryo undergoes lateral folding, these paired tubes approach each other, merging into a single primitive heart...
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Conduction System of the Heart01:19

Conduction System of the Heart

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Autorhythmicity is a term that refers to the heart's inherent ability to generate electrical signals and instigate muscle contractions. This self-regulating conduction system within the heart consists of two key components: the pacemaker cells and specialized conducting cells.
The pacemaker cells are located in two primary nodes: the sinoatrial (SA) node and the atrioventricular (AV) node. The SA node pacemaker cells can autonomously depolarize, triggering an action potential that leads to the...
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Conduction System of the Heart01:20

Conduction System of the Heart

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The cardiac conduction system produces and transmits electrical impulses that prompt myocardial contraction, ensuring efficient heart function. This intricate system ensures that the heart beats in a coordinated and efficient manner, beginning with the atria and then the ventricles. The conduction system optimizes cardiac output by maintaining this precise sequence, which is crucial for adequate blood circulation.
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Heart Valves01:16

Heart Valves

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The human heart is a complex organ with an intricate system of valves that regulate blood flow. There are two main types of valves: atrioventricular (AV) valves and semilunar valves.
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Lumped-Parameter and Finite Element Modeling of Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction
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Lumped-Parameter and Finite Element Modeling of Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction

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Modelling the heart as a communication system.

Hiroshi Ashikaga1, José Aguilar-Rodríguez2, Shai Gorsky3

  • 1Division of Cardiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA hashika1@jhmi.edu.

Journal of the Royal Society, Interface
|March 6, 2015
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

New information theory metrics reveal how electrical communication in the heart changes during arrhythmia. These metrics can pinpoint targets for treating complex heart rhythms, going beyond traditional electrocardiography.

Keywords:
cardiac arrhythmiacardiac electrophysiologyinformation theorymathematical modelling

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Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Computational Biology
  • Information Theory

Background:

  • Electrical communication between cardiomyocytes is crucial for normal heart function.
  • Cardiac arrhythmias disrupt normal electrical communication, but conventional electrocardiography (ECG) metrics do not fully capture these perturbations.
  • Understanding altered cell-to-cell communication is key to developing new arrhythmia treatments.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop and apply a theoretical framework using information theory metrics to quantify electrical communication between cardiomyocytes.
  • To investigate how cardiac arrhythmias, including reentry phenomena, affect information sharing within cardiac tissue.
  • To explore the potential clinical applications of information theory in identifying rhythm-specific treatments.

Main Methods:

  • Developed a theoretical framework to quantify electrical communication using information theory metrics.
  • Utilized two-dimensional cell lattice models simulating cardiac excitation propagation.
  • Calculated Shannon entropy and mutual information from coarse-grained time series (1 for excited, 0 for resting) of cardiomyocyte activity.
  • Analyzed data during four distinct cardiac rhythms: normal heartbeat, anatomical reentry, spiral reentry, and multiple reentry.

Main Results:

  • Information sharing between cardiomyocytes is spatially heterogeneous.
  • Cardiac arrhythmias significantly alter information sharing patterns within the heart.
  • Shannon entropy successfully localized the path of the drifting core of spiral reentry, suggesting a potential therapeutic ablation target.
  • Information theory metrics revealed changes in electrical communication not detectable by conventional ECG.

Conclusions:

  • Information theory metrics provide a quantitative assessment of electrical communication among cardiomyocytes.
  • The traditional view of the heart as a syncytium is insufficient to explain altered information sharing during complex arrhythmias.
  • Information theory holds promise for clinical applications in identifying rhythm-specific treatments for arrhythmias unmet by current ECG techniques.