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A Three-dimensional Continuum Model of Active Contraction in Single Cardiomyocytes

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Modeling the Heart and the Circulatory System

Part of the book series: MS&A ((MS&A,volume 14))

Abstract

We investigate the interaction of intracellular calcium spatio-temporal variations with the self-sustained contractions in cardiac myocytes. A 3D continuum mathematical model is presented based on a hyperelastic description of the passive mechanical properties of the cell, combined with an active-strain framework to describe the active shortening of myocytes and its coupling with cytosolic and sarcoplasmic calcium dynamics. Some numerical tests of combined boundary conditions and ionic activations illustrate the ability of our model in reproducing key experimentally established features. Potential applications of the study for predicting pathological subcellular mechanisms affecting e.g. cardiac repolarization are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Engineering Faculty, University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome, 00128, Rome, Italy

    Alessio Gizzi, Christian Cherubini & Simonetta Filippi

  2. Institut des Sciences de la Terre, FGSE, Université de Lausanne, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Ricardo Ruiz-Baier

  3. Civil & Environmental Engineering, Mechanical Engineering & Material Science, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Simone Rossi

  4. Computer Vision Laboratory, ETH Zentrum, CH — 8092, Zurich, Switzerland

    Aymen Laadhari

Authors
  1. Alessio Gizzi
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  2. Ricardo Ruiz-Baier
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  3. Simone Rossi
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  4. Aymen Laadhari
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  5. Christian Cherubini
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  6. Simonetta Filippi
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Correspondence to Alessio Gizzi .

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  1. École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland

    Alfio Quarteroni

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Gizzi, A., Ruiz-Baier, R., Rossi, S., Laadhari, A., Cherubini, C., Filippi, S. (2015). A Three-dimensional Continuum Model of Active Contraction in Single Cardiomyocytes. In: Quarteroni, A. (eds) Modeling the Heart and the Circulatory System. MS&A, vol 14. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05230-4_6

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