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Baron V, Sommer ST, Fiegle DJ, Pfeuffer AKM, Peyronnet R, Volk T, Seidel T. Effects of electro-mechanical uncouplers, hormonal stimulation and pacing rate on the stability and function of cultured rabbit myocardial slices. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2024; 12:1363538. [PMID: 38646013 PMCID: PMC11026719 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2024.1363538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2023] [Accepted: 03/18/2024] [Indexed: 04/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction: Recent advances have enabled organotypic culture of beating human myocardial slices that are stable for weeks. However, human myocardial samples are rare, exhibit high variability and frequently originate from diseased hearts. Thus, there is a need to adapt long-term slice culture for animal myocardium. When applied to animal cardiac slices, studies in healthy or genetically modified myocardium will be possible. We present the culture of slices from rabbit hearts, which resemble the human heart in microstructure, electrophysiology and excitation-contraction coupling. Methods: Left ventricular myocardium from New Zealand White rabbits was cut using a vibratome and cultured in biomimetic chambers for up to 7 days (d). Electro-mechanical uncoupling agents 2,3-butanedione monoxime (BDM) and cytochalasin D (CytoD) were added during initiation of culture and effects on myocyte survival were quantified. We investigated pacing rates (0.5 Hz, 1 Hz, and 2 Hz) and hormonal supplements (cortisol, T3, catecholamines) at physiological plasma concentrations. T3 was buffered using BSA. Contractile force was recorded continuously. Glucose consumption and lactate production were measured. Whole-slice Ca2+ transients and action potentials were recorded. Effects of culture on microstructure were investigated with confocal microscopy and image analysis. Results: Protocols for human myocardial culture resulted in sustained contracture and myocyte death in rabbit slices within 24 h, which could be prevented by transient application of a combination of BDM and CytoD. Cortisol stabilized contraction amplitude and kinetics in culture. T3 and catecholaminergic stimulation did not further improve stability. T3 and higher pacing rates increased metabolic rate and lactate production. T3 stabilized the response to β-adrenergic stimulation over 7 d. Pacing rates above 1 Hz resulted in progredient decline in contraction force. Image analysis revealed no changes in volume fractions of cardiomyocytes or measures of fibrosis over 7 d. Ca2+ transient amplitudes and responsiveness to isoprenaline were comparable after 1 d and 7 d, while Ca2+ transient duration was prolonged after 7 d in culture. Conclusions: A workflow for rabbit myocardial culture has been established, preserving function for up to 7 d. This research underscores the importance of glucocorticoid signaling in maintaining tissue function and extending culture duration. Furthermore, BDM and CytoD appear to protect from tissue damage during the initiation phase of tissue culture.
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Affiliation(s)
- V. Baron
- Institute of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
| | - S. T. Sommer
- Institute of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
| | - D. J. Fiegle
- Institute of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
| | - A.-K. M. Pfeuffer
- Institute of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
| | - R. Peyronnet
- Institute for Experimental Cardiovascular Medicine, University Heart Center Freiburg, Bad Krozingen, Germany
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - T. Volk
- Institute of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
| | - T. Seidel
- Institute of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
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2
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Farzi M, Coveney S, Afzali M, Zdora M, Lygate CA, Rau C, Frangi AF, Dall'Armellina E, Teh I, Schneider JE. Measuring cardiomyocyte cellular characteristics in cardiac hypertrophy using diffusion-weighted MRI. Magn Reson Med 2023; 90:2144-2157. [PMID: 37345727 PMCID: PMC10962572 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.29775] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2023] [Revised: 05/05/2023] [Accepted: 06/02/2023] [Indexed: 06/23/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE This paper presents a hierarchical modeling approach for estimating cardiomyocyte major and minor diameters and intracellular volume fraction (ICV) using diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) data in ex vivo mouse hearts. METHODS DWI data were acquired on two healthy controls and two hearts 3 weeks post transverse aortic constriction (TAC) using a bespoke diffusion scheme with multiple diffusion times (Δ $$ \Delta $$ ), q-shells and diffusion encoding directions. Firstly, a bi-exponential tensor model was fitted separately at each diffusion time to disentangle the dependence on diffusion times from diffusion weightings, that is, b-values. The slow-diffusing component was attributed to the restricted diffusion inside cardiomyocytes. ICV was then extrapolated atΔ = 0 $$ \Delta =0 $$ using linear regression. Secondly, given the secondary and the tertiary diffusion eigenvalue measurements for the slow-diffusing component obtained at different diffusion times, major and minor diameters were estimated assuming a cylinder model with an elliptical cross-section (ECS). High-resolution three-dimensional synchrotron X-ray imaging (SRI) data from the same specimen was utilized to evaluate the biophysical parameters. RESULTS Estimated parameters using DWI data were (control 1/control 2 vs. TAC 1/TAC 2): major diameter-17.4μ $$ \mu $$ m/18.0μ $$ \mu $$ m versus 19.2μ $$ \mu $$ m/19.0μ $$ \mu $$ m; minor diameter-10.2μ $$ \mu $$ m/9.4μ $$ \mu $$ m versus 12.8μ $$ \mu $$ m/13.4μ $$ \mu $$ m; and ICV-62%/62% versus 68%/47%. These findings were consistent with SRI measurements. CONCLUSION The proposed method allowed for accurate estimation of biophysical parameters suggesting cardiomyocyte diameters as sensitive biomarkers of hypertrophy in the heart.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohsen Farzi
- Biomedical Imaging Science Department, Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic MedicineUniversity of LeedsLeedsUK
| | - Sam Coveney
- Biomedical Imaging Science Department, Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic MedicineUniversity of LeedsLeedsUK
| | - Maryam Afzali
- Biomedical Imaging Science Department, Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic MedicineUniversity of LeedsLeedsUK
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), School of PsychologyCardiff UniversityCardiffUK
| | - Marie‐Christine Zdora
- Diamond Light Source Ltd.Harwell Science and Innovation CampusDidcotUK
- Department of Physics & AstronomyUniversity College LondonLondonUK
| | - Craig A. Lygate
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of MedicineUniversity of OxfordOxfordUK
| | - Christoph Rau
- Diamond Light Source Ltd.Harwell Science and Innovation CampusDidcotUK
| | - Alejandro F. Frangi
- Centre for Computational Imaging and Simulation Technologies in Biomedicine (CISTIB), School of ComputingUniversity of LeedsLeedsUK
| | - Erica Dall'Armellina
- Biomedical Imaging Science Department, Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic MedicineUniversity of LeedsLeedsUK
| | - Irvin Teh
- Biomedical Imaging Science Department, Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic MedicineUniversity of LeedsLeedsUK
| | - Jürgen E. Schneider
- Biomedical Imaging Science Department, Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic MedicineUniversity of LeedsLeedsUK
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3
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Lashgari M, Ravikumar N, Teh I, Li JR, Buckley DL, Schneider JE, Frangi AF. Three-dimensional micro-structurally informed in silico myocardium-Towards virtual imaging trials in cardiac diffusion weighted MRI. Med Image Anal 2022; 82:102592. [PMID: 36095906 DOI: 10.1016/j.media.2022.102592] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2021] [Revised: 08/14/2022] [Accepted: 08/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
In silico tissue models (viz. numerical phantoms) provide a mechanism for evaluating quantitative models of magnetic resonance imaging. This includes the validation and sensitivity analysis of imaging biomarkers and tissue microstructure parameters. This study proposes a novel method to generate a realistic numerical phantom of myocardial microstructure. The proposed method extends previous studies by accounting for the variability of the cardiomyocyte shape, water exchange between the cardiomyocytes (intercalated discs), disorder class of myocardial microstructure, and four sheetlet orientations. In the first stage of the method, cardiomyocytes and sheetlets are generated by considering the shape variability and intercalated discs in cardiomyocyte-cardiomyocyte connections. Sheetlets are then aggregated and oriented in the directions of interest. The morphometric study demonstrates no significant difference (p>0.01) between the distribution of volume, length, and primary and secondary axes of the numerical and real (literature) cardiomyocyte data. Moreover, structural correlation analysis validates that the in-silico tissue is in the same class of disorderliness as the real tissue. Additionally, the absolute angle differences between the simulated helical angle (HA) and input HA (reference value) of the cardiomyocytes (4.3°±3.1°) demonstrate a good agreement with the absolute angle difference between the measured HA using experimental cardiac diffusion tensor imaging (cDTI) and histology (reference value) reported by (Holmes et al., 2000) (3.7°±6.4°) and (Scollan et al. 1998) (4.9°±14.6°). Furthermore, the angular distance between eigenvectors and sheetlet angles of the input and simulated cDTI is much smaller than those between measured angles using structural tensor imaging (as a gold standard) and experimental cDTI. Combined with the qualitative results, these results confirm that the proposed method can generate richer numerical phantoms for the myocardium than previous studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mojtaba Lashgari
- Centre for Computational Imaging and Simulation Technologies in Biomedicine (CISTIB), School of Computing, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK; Biomedical Imaging Science Department, Leeds Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine (LICAMM), School of Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
| | - Nishant Ravikumar
- Centre for Computational Imaging and Simulation Technologies in Biomedicine (CISTIB), School of Computing, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK; Biomedical Imaging Science Department, Leeds Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine (LICAMM), School of Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Irvin Teh
- Biomedical Imaging Science Department, Leeds Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine (LICAMM), School of Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Jing-Rebecca Li
- INRIA Saclay, Equipe DEFI, CMAP, Ecole Polytechnique, Route de Saclay, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France
| | - David L Buckley
- Biomedical Imaging Science Department, Leeds Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine (LICAMM), School of Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Jurgen E Schneider
- Biomedical Imaging Science Department, Leeds Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine (LICAMM), School of Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Alejandro F Frangi
- Centre for Computational Imaging and Simulation Technologies in Biomedicine (CISTIB), School of Computing, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK; Biomedical Imaging Science Department, Leeds Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine (LICAMM), School of Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK; INRIA Saclay, Equipe DEFI, CMAP, Ecole Polytechnique, Route de Saclay, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France; Medical Imaging Research Center (MIRC), Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Medical Imaging Research Center (MIRC), Department of Electrical Engineering, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Alan Turing Institute, London, UK.
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4
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Greiner J, Sankarankutty AC, Seidel T, Sachse FB. Confocal microscopy-based estimation of intracellular conductivities in myocardium for modeling of the normal and infarcted heart. Comput Biol Med 2022; 146:105579. [PMID: 35588677 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2022.105579] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2022] [Revised: 04/12/2022] [Accepted: 04/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Ventricular arrhythmias are the leading cause of mortality in patients with ischemic heart diseases, such as myocardial infarction (MI). Computational simulation of cardiac electrophysiology provides insights into these arrhythmias and their treatment. However, only sparse information is available on crucial model parameters, for instance, the anisotropic intracellular electrical conductivities. Here, we introduced an approach to estimate these conductivities in normal and MI hearts. We processed and analyzed images from confocal microscopy of left ventricular tissue of a rabbit MI model to generate 3D reconstructions. We derived tissue features including the volume fraction of myocytes (Vmyo), gap junctions-containing voxels (Vgj), and fibrosis (Vfibrosis). We generated models of the intracellular space and intercellular coupling. Applying numerical methods for solving Poisson's equation for stationary electrical currents, we calculated normal (σmyo,n), longitudinal (σmyo,l), and transverse (σmyo,t) intracellular conductivities. Using linear regression analysis, we assessed relationships of conductivities to tissue features. Vgj and Vmyo were reduced in MI vs. control, but Vfibrosis was increased. Both σmyo,l and σmyo,n were lower in MI than in control. Differences of σmyo,t between control and MI were not significant. We found strong positive relationships of σmyo,l with Vmyo and Vgj, and a strong negative relationship with Vfibrosis. The relationships of σmyo,n with these tissue features were similar but less pronounced. Our study provides quantitative insights into the intracellular conductivities in the normal and MI heart. We suggest that our study establishes a framework for the estimation of intracellular electrical conductivities of myocardium with various pathologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joachim Greiner
- Institute for Experimental Cardiovascular Medicine, University Heart Center Freiburg·Bad Krozingen, Freiburg, Germany; Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
| | - Aparna C Sankarankutty
- Nora Eccles Harrison Cardiovascular Research and Training Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA
| | - Thomas Seidel
- Institute of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Frank B Sachse
- Nora Eccles Harrison Cardiovascular Research and Training Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA.
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5
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Giardini F, Lazzeri E, Vitale G, Ferrantini C, Costantini I, Pavone FS, Poggesi C, Bocchi L, Sacconi L. Quantification of Myocyte Disarray in Human Cardiac Tissue. Front Physiol 2021; 12:750364. [PMID: 34867455 PMCID: PMC8635020 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2021.750364] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2021] [Accepted: 09/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Proper three-dimensional (3D)-cardiomyocyte orientation is important for an effective tension production in cardiac muscle. Cardiac diseases can cause severe remodeling processes in the heart, such as cellular misalignment, that can affect both the electrical and mechanical functions of the organ. To date, a proven methodology to map and quantify myocytes disarray in massive samples is missing. In this study, we present an experimental pipeline to reconstruct and analyze the 3D cardiomyocyte architecture in massive samples. We employed tissue clearing, staining, and advanced microscopy techniques to detect sarcomeres in relatively large human myocardial strips with micrometric resolution. Z-bands periodicity was exploited in a frequency analysis approach to extract the 3D myofilament orientation, providing an orientation map used to characterize the tissue organization at different spatial scales. As a proof-of-principle, we applied the proposed method to healthy and pathologically remodeled human cardiac tissue strips. Preliminary results suggest the reliability of the method: strips from a healthy donor are characterized by a well-organized tissue, where the local disarray is log-normally distributed and slightly depends on the spatial scale of analysis; on the contrary, pathological strips show pronounced tissue disorganization, characterized by local disarray significantly dependent on the spatial scale of analysis. A virtual sample generator is developed to link this multi-scale disarray analysis with the underlying cellular architecture. This approach allowed us to quantitatively assess tissue organization in terms of 3D myocyte angular dispersion and may pave the way for developing novel predictive models based on structural data at cellular resolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesco Giardini
- Laboratory of Non-Linear Spectroscopy (LENS), University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
| | - Erica Lazzeri
- Laboratory of Non-Linear Spectroscopy (LENS), University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
| | - Giulia Vitale
- Division of Physiology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | - Cecilia Ferrantini
- Laboratory of Non-Linear Spectroscopy (LENS), University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.,Division of Physiology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | - Irene Costantini
- Laboratory of Non-Linear Spectroscopy (LENS), University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.,National Institute of Optics, National Research Council, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.,Department of Biology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | - Francesco S Pavone
- Laboratory of Non-Linear Spectroscopy (LENS), University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.,National Institute of Optics, National Research Council, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.,Department of Physics, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | - Corrado Poggesi
- Division of Physiology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | - Leonardo Bocchi
- Laboratory of Non-Linear Spectroscopy (LENS), University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.,Department of Information Engineering, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | - Leonardo Sacconi
- Laboratory of Non-Linear Spectroscopy (LENS), University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.,National Institute of Optics, National Research Council, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.,Faculty of Medicine, Institute for Experimental Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
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6
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Farzi M, Mcclymont D, Whittington H, Zdora MC, Khazin L, Lygate CA, Rau C, Dall'Armellina E, Teh I, Schneider JE. Assessing Myocardial Microstructure With Biophysical Models of Diffusion MRI. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MEDICAL IMAGING 2021; 40:3775-3786. [PMID: 34270420 DOI: 10.1109/tmi.2021.3097907] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Biophysical models are a promising means for interpreting diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) data, as they can provide estimates of physiologically relevant parameters of microstructure including cell size, volume fraction, or dispersion. However, their application in cardiac microstructure mapping (CMM) has been limited. This study proposes seven new two-compartment models with combination of restricted cylinder models and a diffusion tensor to represent intra- and extracellular spaces, respectively. Three extended versions of the cylinder model are studied here: cylinder with elliptical cross section (ECS), cylinder with Gamma distributed radii (GDR), and cylinder with Bingham distributed axes (BDA). The proposed models were applied to data in two fixed mouse hearts, acquired with multiple diffusion times, q-shells and diffusion encoding directions. The cylinderGDR-pancake model provided the best performance in terms of root mean squared error (RMSE) reducing it by 25% compared to diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). The cylinderBDA-pancake model represented anatomical findings closest as it also allows for modelling dispersion. High-resolution 3D synchrotron X-ray imaging (SRI) data from the same specimen was utilized to evaluate the biophysical models. A novel tensor-based registration method is proposed to align SRI structure tensors to the MR diffusion tensors. The consistency between SRI and DW-MRI parameters demonstrates the potential of compartment models in assessing physiologically relevant parameters.
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7
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Sankarankutty AC, Greiner J, Bragard J, Visker JR, Shankar TS, Kyriakopoulos CP, Drakos SG, Sachse FB. Etiology-Specific Remodeling in Ventricular Tissue of Heart Failure Patients and Its Implications for Computational Modeling of Electrical Conduction. Front Physiol 2021; 12:730933. [PMID: 34675817 PMCID: PMC8523803 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2021.730933] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2021] [Accepted: 09/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
With an estimated 64.3 million cases worldwide, heart failure (HF) imposes an enormous burden on healthcare systems. Sudden death from arrhythmia is the major cause of mortality in HF patients. Computational modeling of the failing heart provides insights into mechanisms of arrhythmogenesis, risk stratification of patients, and clinical treatment. However, the lack of a clinically informed approach to model cardiac tissues in HF hinders progress in developing patient-specific strategies. Here, we provide a microscopy-based foundation for modeling conduction in HF tissues. We acquired 2D images of left ventricular tissues from HF patients (n = 16) and donors (n = 5). The composition and heterogeneity of fibrosis were quantified at a sub-micrometer resolution over an area of 1 mm2. From the images, we constructed computational bidomain models of tissue electrophysiology. We computed local upstroke velocities of the membrane voltage and anisotropic conduction velocities (CV). The non-myocyte volume fraction was higher in HF than donors (39.68 ± 14.23 vs. 22.09 ± 2.72%, p < 0.01), and higher in ischemic (IC) than nonischemic (NIC) cardiomyopathy (47.2 ± 16.18 vs. 32.16 ± 6.55%, p < 0.05). The heterogeneity of fibrosis within each subject was highest for IC (27.1 ± 6.03%) and lowest for donors (7.47 ± 1.37%) with NIC (15.69 ± 5.76%) in between. K-means clustering of this heterogeneity discriminated IC and NIC with an accuracy of 81.25%. The heterogeneity in CV increased from donor to NIC to IC tissues. CV decreased with increasing fibrosis for longitudinal (R 2 = 0.28, p < 0.05) and transverse conduction (R 2 = 0.46, p < 0.01). The tilt angle of the CV vectors increased 2.1° for longitudinal and 0.91° for transverse conduction per 1% increase in fibrosis. Our study suggests that conduction fundamentally differs in the two etiologies due to the characteristics of fibrosis. Our study highlights the importance of the etiology-specific modeling of HF tissues and integration of medical history into electrophysiology models for personalized risk stratification and treatment planning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aparna C Sankarankutty
- Nora Eccles Harrison Cardiovascular Research and Training Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States.,Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
| | - Joachim Greiner
- Institute for Experimental Cardiovascular Medicine, University Heart Center Freiburg⋅Bad Krozingen, Freiburg, Germany.,Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Jean Bragard
- Department of Physics and Applied Mathematics, School of Sciences, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
| | - Joseph R Visker
- Nora Eccles Harrison Cardiovascular Research and Training Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States.,Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
| | - Thirupura S Shankar
- Nora Eccles Harrison Cardiovascular Research and Training Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States.,Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
| | - Christos P Kyriakopoulos
- Nora Eccles Harrison Cardiovascular Research and Training Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States.,Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
| | - Stavros G Drakos
- Nora Eccles Harrison Cardiovascular Research and Training Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States.,Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States.,Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
| | - Frank B Sachse
- Nora Eccles Harrison Cardiovascular Research and Training Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States.,Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
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8
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Sánchez J, Trenor B, Saiz J, Dössel O, Loewe A. Fibrotic Remodeling during Persistent Atrial Fibrillation: In Silico Investigation of the Role of Calcium for Human Atrial Myofibroblast Electrophysiology. Cells 2021; 10:cells10112852. [PMID: 34831076 PMCID: PMC8616446 DOI: 10.3390/cells10112852] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2021] [Revised: 10/08/2021] [Accepted: 10/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
During atrial fibrillation, cardiac tissue undergoes different remodeling processes at different scales from the molecular level to the tissue level. One central player that contributes to both electrical and structural remodeling is the myofibroblast. Based on recent experimental evidence on myofibroblasts' ability to contract, we extended a biophysical myofibroblast model with Ca2+ handling components and studied the effect on cellular and tissue electrophysiology. Using genetic algorithms, we fitted the myofibroblast model parameters to the existing in vitro data. In silico experiments showed that Ca2+ currents can explain the experimentally observed variability regarding the myofibroblast resting membrane potential. The presence of an L-type Ca2+ current can trigger automaticity in the myofibroblast with a cycle length of 799.9 ms. Myocyte action potentials were prolonged when coupled to myofibroblasts with Ca2+ handling machinery. Different spatial myofibroblast distribution patterns increased the vulnerable window to induce arrhythmia from 12 ms in non-fibrotic tissue to 22 ± 2.5 ms and altered the reentry dynamics. Our findings suggest that Ca2+ handling can considerably affect myofibroblast electrophysiology and alter the electrical propagation in atrial tissue composed of myocytes coupled with myofibroblasts. These findings can inform experimental validation experiments to further elucidate the role of myofibroblast Ca2+ handling in atrial arrhythmogenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jorge Sánchez
- Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany; (O.D.); (A.L.)
- Correspondence:
| | - Beatriz Trenor
- Centro de Investigación e Innovación en Bioingeniería (Ci2B), Universitàt Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain; (B.T.); (J.S.)
| | - Javier Saiz
- Centro de Investigación e Innovación en Bioingeniería (Ci2B), Universitàt Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain; (B.T.); (J.S.)
| | - Olaf Dössel
- Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany; (O.D.); (A.L.)
| | - Axel Loewe
- Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany; (O.D.); (A.L.)
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9
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Sands GB, Ashton JL, Trew ML, Baddeley D, Walton RD, Benoist D, Efimov IR, Smith NP, Bernus O, Smaill BH. It's clearly the heart! Optical transparency, cardiac tissue imaging, and computer modelling. PROGRESS IN BIOPHYSICS AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2021; 168:18-32. [PMID: 34126113 DOI: 10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2021.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2021] [Revised: 05/10/2021] [Accepted: 06/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Recent developments in clearing and microscopy enable 3D imaging with cellular resolution up to the whole organ level. These methods have been used extensively in neurobiology, but their uptake in other fields has been much more limited. Application of this approach to the human heart and effective use of the data acquired present challenges of scale and complexity. Four interlinked issues need to be addressed: 1) efficient clearing and labelling of heart tissue, 2) fast microscopic imaging of human-scale samples, 3) handling and processing of multi-terabyte 3D images, and 4) extraction of structural information in computationally tractable structure-based models of cardiac function. Preliminary studies show that each of these requirements can be achieved with the appropriate application and development of existing technologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gregory B Sands
- Auckland Bioengineering Institute, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
| | - Jesse L Ashton
- Auckland Bioengineering Institute, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Mark L Trew
- Auckland Bioengineering Institute, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - David Baddeley
- Auckland Bioengineering Institute, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand; Department of Cell Biology, Yale University, New Haven CT, 06520, USA
| | - Richard D Walton
- IHU Liryc, Fondation Bordeaux Université, Bordeaux, France; Univ. Bordeaux, Inserm, Centre de Recherche Cardio-Thoracique, U1045, 33000, Bordeaux, France
| | - David Benoist
- IHU Liryc, Fondation Bordeaux Université, Bordeaux, France; Univ. Bordeaux, Inserm, Centre de Recherche Cardio-Thoracique, U1045, 33000, Bordeaux, France
| | - Igor R Efimov
- IHU Liryc, Fondation Bordeaux Université, Bordeaux, France; Department of Biomedical Engineering, The George Washington University, Washington DC, 20052, USA
| | - Nicolas P Smith
- Auckland Bioengineering Institute, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand; Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia
| | - Olivier Bernus
- IHU Liryc, Fondation Bordeaux Université, Bordeaux, France; Univ. Bordeaux, Inserm, Centre de Recherche Cardio-Thoracique, U1045, 33000, Bordeaux, France
| | - Bruce H Smaill
- Auckland Bioengineering Institute, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
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10
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A modified approach to determine the six cardiac bidomain conductivities. Comput Biol Med 2021; 135:104549. [PMID: 34171640 PMCID: PMC10183296 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2021.104549] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2021] [Revised: 05/31/2021] [Accepted: 06/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Accurate values for the six cardiac bidomain conductivities are crucial for meaningful computational studies of conduction in cardiac tissue, and are yet to be determined by experimental means. Although previous studies have proposed an approach using a multi-electrode array to measure potentials, from which the conductivities can be determined, it has been found that the conductivities cannot be retrieved consistently when the noise in the potentials varies. This paper presents a protocol, which not only has been shown to retrieve the conductivities to a reasonable accuracy, but does so under the presence of a more appropriate additive Gaussian noise model, while using fewer computational resources. Through repetitions of the protocol, a comparison of two pre-fabricated 128 electrode arrays, one array with a square arrangement of electrodes and the other with a rectangular arrangement, was made against a 75-electrode array proposed in previous studies. Results indicated that the two pre-fabricated arrays were generally more capable of obtaining the cardiac conductivities to a higher degree of accuracy than the 75-electrode array. The 128-electrode rectangular array was orientated such that the length of the array first ran along the direction of the fibres, then was reorientated such that the length of the array ran perpendicular to the direction of the fibres. The 128-electrode rectangular array, when orientated in this manner, was more capable of retrieving the conductivities than the remainder of the arrays tested, and thus we suggest this arrangement be used during experimental trials.
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11
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Olejnickova V, Kocka M, Kvasilova A, Kolesova H, Dziacky A, Gidor T, Gidor L, Sankova B, Gregorovicova M, Gourdie RG, Sedmera D. Gap Junctional Communication via Connexin43 between Purkinje Fibers and Working Myocytes Explains the Epicardial Activation Pattern in the Postnatal Mouse Left Ventricle. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:2475. [PMID: 33804428 PMCID: PMC7957598 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22052475] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2021] [Revised: 02/19/2021] [Accepted: 02/25/2021] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
The mammalian ventricular myocardium forms a functional syncytium due to flow of electrical current mediated in part by gap junctions localized within intercalated disks. The connexin (Cx) subunit of gap junctions have direct and indirect roles in conduction of electrical impulse from the cardiac pacemaker via the cardiac conduction system (CCS) to working myocytes. Cx43 is the dominant isoform in these channels. We have studied the distribution of Cx43 junctions between the CCS and working myocytes in a transgenic mouse model, which had the His-Purkinje portion of the CCS labeled with green fluorescence protein. The highest number of such connections was found in a region about one-third of ventricular length above the apex, and it correlated with the peak proportion of Purkinje fibers (PFs) to the ventricular myocardium. At this location, on the septal surface of the left ventricle, the insulated left bundle branch split into the uninsulated network of PFs that continued to the free wall anteriorly and posteriorly. The second peak of PF abundance was present in the ventricular apex. Epicardial activation maps correspondingly placed the site of the first activation in the apical region, while some hearts presented more highly located breakthrough sites. Taken together, these results increase our understanding of the physiological pattern of ventricular activation and its morphological underpinning through detailed CCS anatomy and distribution of its gap junctional coupling to the working myocardium.
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Affiliation(s)
- Veronika Olejnickova
- Institute of Anatomy, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, 128 00 Prague, Czech Republic; (V.O.); (M.K.); (A.K.); (H.K.); (A.D.); (T.G.); (L.G.); (B.S.); (M.G.)
- Institute of Physiology, CAS, 142 20 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Matej Kocka
- Institute of Anatomy, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, 128 00 Prague, Czech Republic; (V.O.); (M.K.); (A.K.); (H.K.); (A.D.); (T.G.); (L.G.); (B.S.); (M.G.)
| | - Alena Kvasilova
- Institute of Anatomy, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, 128 00 Prague, Czech Republic; (V.O.); (M.K.); (A.K.); (H.K.); (A.D.); (T.G.); (L.G.); (B.S.); (M.G.)
| | - Hana Kolesova
- Institute of Anatomy, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, 128 00 Prague, Czech Republic; (V.O.); (M.K.); (A.K.); (H.K.); (A.D.); (T.G.); (L.G.); (B.S.); (M.G.)
- Institute of Physiology, CAS, 142 20 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Adam Dziacky
- Institute of Anatomy, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, 128 00 Prague, Czech Republic; (V.O.); (M.K.); (A.K.); (H.K.); (A.D.); (T.G.); (L.G.); (B.S.); (M.G.)
- Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Motol University Hospital, 150 06 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Tom Gidor
- Institute of Anatomy, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, 128 00 Prague, Czech Republic; (V.O.); (M.K.); (A.K.); (H.K.); (A.D.); (T.G.); (L.G.); (B.S.); (M.G.)
| | - Lihi Gidor
- Institute of Anatomy, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, 128 00 Prague, Czech Republic; (V.O.); (M.K.); (A.K.); (H.K.); (A.D.); (T.G.); (L.G.); (B.S.); (M.G.)
| | - Barbora Sankova
- Institute of Anatomy, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, 128 00 Prague, Czech Republic; (V.O.); (M.K.); (A.K.); (H.K.); (A.D.); (T.G.); (L.G.); (B.S.); (M.G.)
| | - Martina Gregorovicova
- Institute of Anatomy, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, 128 00 Prague, Czech Republic; (V.O.); (M.K.); (A.K.); (H.K.); (A.D.); (T.G.); (L.G.); (B.S.); (M.G.)
- Institute of Physiology, CAS, 142 20 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Robert G. Gourdie
- Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, Virginia Tech, Roanoke, VA 24016, USA;
| | - David Sedmera
- Institute of Anatomy, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, 128 00 Prague, Czech Republic; (V.O.); (M.K.); (A.K.); (H.K.); (A.D.); (T.G.); (L.G.); (B.S.); (M.G.)
- Institute of Physiology, CAS, 142 20 Prague, Czech Republic
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12
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Fiegle DJ, Schöber M, Dittrich S, Cesnjevar R, Klingel K, Volk T, Alkassar M, Seidel T. Severe T-System Remodeling in Pediatric Viral Myocarditis. Front Cardiovasc Med 2021; 7:624776. [PMID: 33537349 PMCID: PMC7848076 DOI: 10.3389/fcvm.2020.624776] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2020] [Accepted: 12/22/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Chronic heart failure (HF) in adults causes remodeling of the cardiomyocyte transverse tubular system (t-system), which contributes to disease progression by impairing excitation-contraction (EC) coupling. However, it is unknown if t-system remodeling occurs in pediatric heart failure. This study investigated the t-system in pediatric viral myocarditis. The t-system and integrity of EC coupling junctions (co-localization of L-type Ca2+ channels with ryanodine receptors and junctophilin-2) were analyzed by 3D confocal microscopy in left-ventricular (LV) samples from 5 children with myocarditis (age 14 ± 3 months), undergoing ventricular assist device (VAD) implantation, and 5 children with atrioventricular septum defect (AVSD, age 17 ± 3 months), undergoing corrective surgery. LV ejection fraction (EF) was 58.4 ± 2.3% in AVSD and 12.2 ± 2.4% in acute myocarditis. Cardiomyocytes from myocarditis samples showed increased t-tubule distance (1.27 ± 0.05 μm, n = 34 cells) and dilation of t-tubules (volume-length ratio: 0.64 ± 0.02 μm2) when compared with AVSD (0.90 ± 0.02 μm, p < 0.001; 0.52 ± 0.02 μm2, n = 61, p < 0.01). Intriguingly, 4 out of 5 myocarditis samples exhibited sheet-like t-tubules (t-sheets), a characteristic feature of adult chronic heart failure. The fraction of extracellular matrix was slightly higher in myocarditis (26.6 ± 1.4%) than in AVSD samples (24.4 ± 0.8%, p < 0.05). In one case of myocarditis, a second biopsy was taken and analyzed at VAD explantation after extensive cardiac recovery (EF from 7 to 56%) and clinical remission. When compared with pre-VAD, t-tubule distance and density were unchanged, as well as volume-length ratio (0.67 ± 0.04 μm2 vs. 0.72 ± 0.05 μm2, p = 0.5), reflecting extant t-sheets. However, junctophilin-2 cluster density was considerably higher (0.12 ± 0.02 μm−3 vs. 0.05 ± 0.01 μm−3, n = 9/10, p < 0.001), approaching values of AVSD (0.13 ± 0.05 μm−3, n = 56), and the measure of intact EC coupling junctions showed a distinct increase (20.2 ± 5.0% vs. 6.8 ± 2.2%, p < 0.001). Severe t-system loss and remodeling to t-sheets can occur in acute HF in young children, resembling the structural changes of chronically failing adult hearts. T-system remodeling might contribute to cardiac dysfunction in viral myocarditis. Although t-system recovery remains elusive, recovery of EC coupling junctions may be possible and deserves further investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dominik J Fiegle
- Institute of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Martin Schöber
- Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Sven Dittrich
- Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Robert Cesnjevar
- Department of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Karin Klingel
- Cardiopathology, University Hospital Tuebingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Tilmann Volk
- Institute of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.,Muscle Research Center Erlangen (MURCE), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Muhannad Alkassar
- Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Thomas Seidel
- Institute of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.,Muscle Research Center Erlangen (MURCE), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
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13
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Wan Ab Naim WN, Mokhtarudin MJM, Lim E, Chan BT, Ahmad Bakir A, Nik Mohamed NA. The study of border zone formation in ischemic heart using electro-chemical coupled computational model. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL METHODS IN BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING 2020; 36:e3398. [PMID: 32857480 DOI: 10.1002/cnm.3398] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2020] [Revised: 08/22/2020] [Accepted: 08/24/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Myocardial infarction (MI) is the most common cause of a heart failure, which occurs due to myocardial ischemia leading to left ventricular (LV) remodeling. LV remodeling particularly occurs at the ischemic area and the region surrounds it, known as the border zone. The role of the border zone in initiating LV remodeling process urges the investigation on the correlation between early border zone changes and remodeling outcome. Thus, this study aims to simulate a preliminary conceptual work of the border zone formation and evolution during onset of MI and its effect towards early LV remodeling processes by incorporating the oxygen concentration effect on the electrophysiology of an idealized three-dimensional LV through electro-chemical coupled mathematical model. The simulation result shows that the region of border zone, represented by the distribution of electrical conductivities, keeps expanding over time. Based on this result, the border zone is also proposed to consist of three sub-regions, namely mildly, moderately, and seriously impaired conductivity regions, which each region categorized depending on its electrical conductivities. This division could be used as a biomarker for classification of reversible and irreversible myocardial injury and will help to identify the different risks for the survival of patient. Larger ischemic size and complete occlusion of the coronary artery can be associated with an increased risk of developing irreversible injury, in particular if the reperfusion treatment is delayed. Increased irreversible injury area can be related with cardiovascular events and will further deteriorate the LV function over time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wan N Wan Ab Naim
- Faculty of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering Technology, University Malaysia Pahang, Pekan, Malaysia
| | - Mohd J Mohamed Mokhtarudin
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, University Malaysia Pahang, Kuantan, Malaysia
| | - Einly Lim
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
| | - Bee T Chan
- Department of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Nottingham, Semenyih, Malaysia
| | - Azam Ahmad Bakir
- University of Southampton Malaysia Campus, Iskandar Puteri, Malaysia
| | - Nik A Nik Mohamed
- Faculty of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering Technology, University Malaysia Pahang, Pekan, Malaysia
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14
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Del Corso G, Verzicco R, Viola F. Sensitivity analysis of an electrophysiology model for the left ventricle. J R Soc Interface 2020; 17:20200532. [PMID: 33109017 DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2020.0532] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Modelling the cardiac electrophysiology entails dealing with the uncertainties related to the input parameters such as the heart geometry and the electrical conductivities of the tissues, thus calling for an uncertainty quantification (UQ) of the results. Since the chambers of the heart have different shapes and tissues, in order to make the problem affordable, here we focus on the left ventricle with the aim of identifying which of the uncertain inputs mostly affect its electrophysiology. In a first phase, the uncertainty of the input parameters is evaluated using data available from the literature and the output quantities of interest (QoIs) of the problem are defined. According to the polynomial chaos expansion, a training dataset is then created by sampling the parameter space using a quasi-Monte Carlo method whereas a smaller independent dataset is used for the validation of the resulting metamodel. The latter is exploited to run a global sensitivity analysis with nonlinear variance-based indices and thus reduce the input parameter space accordingly. Thereafter, the uncertainty probability distribution of the QoIs are evaluated using a direct UQ strategy on a larger dataset and the results discussed in the light of the medical knowledge.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Roberto Verzicco
- Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI), L'Aquila, Italy.,University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.,POF Group, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
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15
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Approaches for determining cardiac bidomain conductivity values: progress and challenges. Med Biol Eng Comput 2020; 58:2919-2935. [PMID: 33089458 DOI: 10.1007/s11517-020-02272-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2020] [Accepted: 09/17/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Modelling the electrical activity of the heart is an important tool for understanding electrical function in various diseases and conduction disorders. Clearly, for model results to be useful, it is necessary to have accurate inputs for the models, in particular the commonly used bidomain model. However, there are only three sets of four experimentally determined conductivity values for cardiac ventricular tissue and these are inconsistent, were measured around 40 years ago, often produce different results in simulations and do not fully represent the three-dimensional anisotropic nature of cardiac tissue. Despite efforts in the intervening years, difficulties associated with making the measurements and also determining the conductivities from the experimental data have not yet been overcome. In this review, we summarise what is known about the conductivity values, as well as progress to date in meeting the challenges associated with both the mathematical modelling and the experimental techniques. Graphical abstract Epicardial potential distributions, arising from a subendocardial ischaemic region, modelled using conductivity data from the indicated studies.
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16
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Wan Ab Naim WN, Mohamed Mokhtarudin MJ, Chan BT, Lim E, Ahmad Bakir A, Nik Mohamed NA. The study of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion treatment through computational modelling. J Theor Biol 2020; 509:110527. [PMID: 33096094 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2020.110527] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2020] [Revised: 09/25/2020] [Accepted: 10/15/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Reperfusion of the blood flow to ischemic myocardium is the standard treatment for patients suffering myocardial infarction. However, the reperfusion itself can also induce myocardial injury, in which the actual mechanism and its risk factors remain unclear. This work aims to study the mechanism of ischemia-reperfusion treatment using a three-dimensional (3D) oxygen diffusion model. An electrical model is then coupled to an oxygen model to identify the possible region of myocardial damage. Our findings show that the value of oxygen exceeds its optimum (>1.0) at the ischemic area during early reperfusion period. This complication was exacerbated in a longer ischemic period. While a longer reperfusion time causes a continuous excessive oxygen supply to the ischemic area throughout the reperfusion time. This work also suggests the use of less than 0.8 of initial oxygen concentration in the reperfusion treatment to prevent undesired upsurge at the early reperfusion period and further myocardial injury. We also found the region at risk for myocardial injury is confined in the ischemic vicinity revealed by its electrical conductivity impairment. Although there is a risk that reperfusion leads to myocardial injury for excessive oxygen accumulation, the reperfusion treatment is helpful in reducing the infarct size.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wan Naimah Wan Ab Naim
- Faculty of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering Technology, University Malaysia Pahang, 26600 Pekan, Pahang, Malaysia
| | - Mohd Jamil Mohamed Mokhtarudin
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, University Malaysia Pahang, Lebuhraya Tun Razak, 26300 Gambang, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia.
| | - Bee Ting Chan
- Department of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Nottingham, 43500 Selangor, Malaysia
| | - Einly Lim
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
| | - Azam Ahmad Bakir
- University of Southampton Malaysia Campus, No 3, Persiaran Canselor 1, Kota Ilmu Educity, 79200 Iskandar Puteri, Johor, Malaysia
| | - Nik Abdullah Nik Mohamed
- Faculty of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering Technology, University Malaysia Pahang, 26600 Pekan, Pahang, Malaysia
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17
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Clayton RH, Aboelkassem Y, Cantwell CD, Corrado C, Delhaas T, Huberts W, Lei CL, Ni H, Panfilov AV, Roney C, dos Santos RW. An audit of uncertainty in multi-scale cardiac electrophysiology models. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. SERIES A, MATHEMATICAL, PHYSICAL, AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES 2020; 378:20190335. [PMID: 32448070 PMCID: PMC7287340 DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2019.0335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/16/2020] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
Models of electrical activation and recovery in cardiac cells and tissue have become valuable research tools, and are beginning to be used in safety-critical applications including guidance for clinical procedures and for drug safety assessment. As a consequence, there is an urgent need for a more detailed and quantitative understanding of the ways that uncertainty and variability influence model predictions. In this paper, we review the sources of uncertainty in these models at different spatial scales, discuss how uncertainties are communicated across scales, and begin to assess their relative importance. We conclude by highlighting important challenges that continue to face the cardiac modelling community, identifying open questions, and making recommendations for future studies. This article is part of the theme issue 'Uncertainty quantification in cardiac and cardiovascular modelling and simulation'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard H. Clayton
- Insigneo institute for in-silico Medicine and Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
- e-mail:
| | - Yasser Aboelkassem
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA
| | | | - Cesare Corrado
- Division of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, King’s College London, London, UK
| | - Tammo Delhaas
- School of Cardiovascular Diseases, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Wouter Huberts
- School of Cardiovascular Diseases, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
| | - Chon Lok Lei
- Computational Biology and Health Informatics, Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Haibo Ni
- Department of Pharmacology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Alexander V. Panfilov
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Gent, Gent, Belgium
- Laboratory of Computational Biology and Medicine, Ural Federal University, Ekaterinburg, Russia
| | - Caroline Roney
- Division of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, King’s College London, London, UK
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18
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Bragard J, Sankarankutty AC, Sachse FB. Extended Bidomain Modeling of Defibrillation: Quantifying Virtual Electrode Strengths in Fibrotic Myocardium. Front Physiol 2019; 10:337. [PMID: 31001135 PMCID: PMC6456788 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2019.00337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2018] [Accepted: 03/13/2019] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Defibrillation is a well-established therapy for atrial and ventricular arrhythmia. Here, we shed light on defibrillation in the fibrotic heart. Using the extended bidomain model of electrical conduction in cardiac tissue, we assessed the influence of fibrosis on the strength of virtual electrodes caused by extracellular electrical current. We created one-dimensional models of rabbit ventricular tissue with a central patch of fibrosis. The fibrosis was incorporated by altering volume fractions for extracellular, myocyte and fibroblast domains. In our prior work, we calculated these volume fractions from microscopic images at the infarct border zone of rabbit hearts. An average and a large degree of fibrosis were modeled. We simulated defibrillation by application of an extracellular current for a short duration (5 ms). We explored the effects of myocyte-fibroblast coupling, intra-fibroblast conductivity and patch length on the strength of the virtual electrodes present at the borders of the normal and fibrotic tissue. We discriminated between effects on myocyte and fibroblast membranes at both borders of the patch. Similarly, we studied defibrillation in two-dimensional models of fibrotic tissue. Square and disk-like patches of fibrotic tissue were embedded in control tissue. We quantified the influence of the geometry and fibrosis composition on virtual electrode strength. We compared the results obtained with a square and disk shape of the fibrotic patch with results from the one-dimensional simulations. Both, one- and two-dimensional simulations indicate that extracellular current application causes virtual electrodes at boundaries of fibrotic patches. A higher degree of fibrosis and larger patch size were associated with an increased strength of the virtual electrodes. Also, patch geometry affected the strength of the virtual electrodes. Our simulations suggest that increased fibroblast-myocyte coupling and intra-fibroblast conductivity reduce virtual electrode strength. However, experimental data to constrain these modeling parameters are limited and thus pinpointing the magnitude of the reduction will require further understanding of electrical coupling of fibroblasts in native cardiac tissues. We propose that the findings from our computational studies are important for development of patient-specific protocols for internal defibrillators.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean Bragard
- Department of Physics and Applied Mathematics, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
| | - Aparna C. Sankarankutty
- Nora Eccles Harrison Cardiovascular Research and Training Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
| | - Frank B. Sachse
- Nora Eccles Harrison Cardiovascular Research and Training Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
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19
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Olejníčková V, Šaňková B, Sedmera D, Janáček J. Trabecular Architecture Determines Impulse Propagation Through the Early Embryonic Mouse Heart. Front Physiol 2019; 9:1876. [PMID: 30670981 PMCID: PMC6331446 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2018.01876] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2018] [Accepted: 12/11/2018] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Most embryonic ventricular cardiomyocytes are quite uniform, in contrast to the adult heart, where the specialized ventricular conduction system is molecularly and functionally distinct from the working myocardium. We thus hypothesized that the preferential conduction pathway within the embryonic ventricle could be dictated by trabecular geometry. Mouse embryonic hearts of the Nkx2.5:eGFP strain between ED9.5 and ED14.5 were cleared and imaged whole mount by confocal microscopy, and reconstructed in 3D at 3.4 μm isotropic voxel size. The local orientation of the trabeculae, responsible for the anisotropic spreading of the signal, was characterized using spatially homogenized tensors (3 × 3 matrices) calculated from the trabecular skeleton. Activation maps were simulated assuming constant speed of spreading along the trabeculae. The results were compared with experimentally obtained epicardial activation maps generated by optical mapping with a voltage-sensitive dye. Simulated impulse propagation starting from the top of interventricular septum revealed the first epicardial breakthrough at the interventricular grove, similar to experimentally obtained activation maps. Likewise, ectopic activation from the left ventricular base perpendicular to dominant trabecular orientation resulted in isotropic and slower impulse spreading on the ventricular surface in both simulated and experimental conditions. We conclude that in the embryonic pre-septation heart, the geometry of the A-V connections and trabecular network is sufficient to explain impulse propagation and ventricular activation patterns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Veronika Olejníčková
- Department of Developmental Cardiology, Institute of Physiology of The Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czechia
- First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - Barbora Šaňková
- Department of Developmental Cardiology, Institute of Physiology of The Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czechia
- First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - David Sedmera
- Department of Developmental Cardiology, Institute of Physiology of The Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czechia
- First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - Jiří Janáček
- Department of Biomathematics, Institute of Physiology of The Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czechia
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20
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Kolesová H, Bartoš M, Hsieh WC, Olejníčková V, Sedmera D. Novel approaches to study coronary vasculature development in mice. Dev Dyn 2018; 247:1018-1027. [DOI: 10.1002/dvdy.24637] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2018] [Revised: 05/04/2018] [Accepted: 05/08/2018] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Hana Kolesová
- Institute of Anatomy, First Faculty of Medicine; Charles University in Prague; Czech Republic
- Institute of Physiology; Czech Academy of Sciences; Prague Czech Republic
| | - Martin Bartoš
- Institute of Anatomy, First Faculty of Medicine; Charles University in Prague; Czech Republic
- Institute of Dental Medicine, First Faculty of Medicine; Charles University in Prague; Czech Republic
| | - Wan Chin Hsieh
- Institute of Anatomy, First Faculty of Medicine; Charles University in Prague; Czech Republic
| | - Veronika Olejníčková
- Institute of Anatomy, First Faculty of Medicine; Charles University in Prague; Czech Republic
- Institute of Physiology; Czech Academy of Sciences; Prague Czech Republic
| | - David Sedmera
- Institute of Anatomy, First Faculty of Medicine; Charles University in Prague; Czech Republic
- Institute of Physiology; Czech Academy of Sciences; Prague Czech Republic
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