AIMEDIC Publications

Simulation of spontaneous action potentials of cardiomyocytes in pulmonary veins of rabbits

Category

Pub

Date

2008-01-01

Source

Progress in biophysics and molecular biology

Atrial fibrillation is the most prevalent arrhythmia, but the mechanisms by which it develops are not clear. Recently, over 90% of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation was found to be located inside the main pulmonary veins (PVs). We found that single cardiac myocytes isolated from the main PVs of rabbits generate spontaneous action potentials (SAP). We therefore assayed the electrical characteristics of these cardiomyocytes. Among the diverse ionic currents identified were INa, ICa,L, IK1, IKr, IKs, Ito, IKsus, Incx, Ipump, IKH and ICl,Ca. In contrast, IK1 was minimal, IKs could be detected only in the presence of 10μM forskolin, and we were unable to detect If and ICa,T, the most important currents for pacemaking activity in sinoatrial node cells. To identify the main cause of SAP, we developed a model that can explain the electrical properties of these cardiomyocytes. After reconstructing the ionic currents based on …

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