A Novel Human Atrial Electromechanical Cardiomyocyte Model with Mechano-Calcium Feedback Effect

Fazeelat Mazhar1, Francesco Regazzoni2, Chiara Bartolucci1, Cristiana Corsi1, Luca Dede2, Alfio Quarteroni3, Stefano Severi1
1University of Bologna, 2Politecnico di Milano, 3École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne


Abstract

Electromechanical coupling is crucial for modeling a realistic representation of Ca+2 transient and Ca+2 cycling. Cellular Ca+2 dynamics in atria differ fundamentally from the ventricles. A biophysically detailed electrophysiology model is hence necessary to reproduce the experimentally observed phenomena like Ca+2 wave propagation in human atrial myocytes. In this work, we present a spatially detailed and yet computationally efficient electrophysiology model, its coupling with a contraction myofilament model and the effect of mechao-calcium feedback on coupling. This novel coupled and calibrated human atrial electromechanical model was validated by reproducing the rate adaptation property of action potential, Ca+2 transient and the active force. The aim of this article is to present a new coupled model for human atrial myocyte and to analyze the mechanism behind the rate adaptation.