Model Documentation

Model Status

This variant of the model was created by Penny Noble of Oxford University, and represents the parameters given for the M-cell variant in Ten Tusscher et al. 2004. A stimulus protocol component has been added to the model to allow simulation of trains of action potentials (JL, 18/06/07). This file is known to run in PCEnv and COR. This model is also associated with a PCEnv session file.

Model Structure

Cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death are amongst the most common causes of premature death in the devloped world. However despite their prevalance, they remain relatively poorly understood. Mathematical models, which capture the function of the beating human heart, play an important role in cardiac research. In part this is because practical experiments on human hearts are limited, and animal hearts may differ significantly in their anatomy and physiology relative to the human heart. In addition, cardiac arrhythmias are three dimensional phenomena, while experimental observations are mainly limited to surface recordings.

Existing mathematical models of human ventricular cells include:

• Priebe and Beuckelmann, Electrophysiological Model of the Human Ventricular Myocyte, 1998; and

• Bernus et al. A Computationally Efficient Electrophysiological Model of Human Ventricular Cells, 2002.

However, these models have their limitations, such as the fact that several of the equations are based on animal data. The aim of the 2004 study by ten Tusscher et al., is to develop a new model for human ventricular cells that is based on recent experimental data and that is computationally efficient for large-scale spatial simulations. A schematic diagram of the model can be seen in the figure below.

The complete original paper reference is cited below:

A model for human ventricular tissue, K.H.W.J. ten Tusscher, D. Noble, P.J. Noble, and A.V. Panfilov, 2004, American Journal of Physiology , 286, H1573-H1589. (Full text (HTML) and PDF versions of the article are available to subscribers on the American Journal of Physiology website.) PubMed ID: 14656705

A schematic diagram describing the ion movement across the cell surface membrane and the sarcoplasmic reticulum, which are described by the Ten Tusscher et al. 2004 mathematical model of the human ventricular myocyte.

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