\ Projects \ Cardiac Cell Modelling

3D Cell Models

The pH regulatory system in cardiac myocytes is being modelled, along with its important interactions with the cell's Ca²⁺-regulatory and signalling apparatus. This task is being tackled by experimentally characterising, the ion-transport behaviour of pH-regulatory proteins in ventricular and atrial myocytes, as well as by experimentally determining the spatial expression of pHi-regulatory proteins within the cell which will be incorporated into contemporary 3-D reconstructions of the ventricular myocyte. this information will enale the assessment of how spatial control of pH, and the occurrence of spatial pH non-uniformity, impacts upon the three-dimensional control of Ca²⁺, and the spatial co-ordination of Ca²⁺-signalling and contraction in the cardiac myocyte.

Three-dimensional models incorporating pH-regulation and pH-Ca²⁺ interaction, will assist in the elucidation, at the cellular level, of more complex pathological conditions, such as myocardial ischaemia and hypoxia. They will also form the basis of computational models of multi-cellular myocardium.

Lumped parameter models

Lumped parameter models have provided valuable insights into important factors that affect cardiac function at the cellular scale. Extensive studies have been conducted on metabolic pathways and a large suite of models are now available to investigate the mechanisms underlying excitation-contraction coupling. Such models are in regular development and publication in the cardiac literature. These models are now being added systematically to the CellML repository, broadly grouped into the following categories:

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