Simulation Study of Cellular Electric Properties in Heart Failure

From the Department of Medicine III, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.

Correspondence to Dirk J. Beuckelmann, MD, University of Cologne, Department of Medicine III, Joseph-Stelzmann-Str.9, D-50924 Cologne, Germany. E-mail Dirk.Beuckelmann{at}uni-koeln.de

Abstract—Patients with severe heart failure are at high risk of sudden cardiac death. In the majority of these patients, sudden cardiac death is thought to be due to ventricular tachyarrhythmias. Alterations of the electric properties of single myocytes in heart failure may favor the occurrence of ventricular arrhythmias in these patients by inducing early or delayed afterdepolarizations. Mathematical models of the cellular action potential and its underlying ionic currents could help to elucidate possible arrhythmogenic mechanisms on a cellular level. In the present study, selected ionic currents based on human data are incorporated into a model of the ventricular action potential for the purpose of studying the cellular electrophysiological consequences of heart failure. Ionic currents that are not yet sufficiently characterized in human ventricular myocytes are adopted from the action potential model developed by Luo and Rudy (LR model). The main results obtained from this model are as follows: The action potential in ventricular myocytes from failing hearts is longer than in nonfailing control hearts. The major underlying mechanisms for this prolongation are the enhanced activity of the Na⁺-Ca²⁺ exchanger, the slowed diastolic decay of the [Ca²⁺]_i transient, and the reduction of the inwardly rectifying K⁺ current and the Na⁺-K⁺ pump current in myocytes of failing hearts. Furthermore, the fast and slow components of the delayed rectifier K⁺ current (I_Kr and I_Ks, respectively) are of utmost importance in determining repolarization of the human ventricular action potential. In contrast, the influence of the transient outward K⁺ current on APD is only small in both cell groups. Inhibition of I_Kr promotes the development of early afterdepolarizations in failing, but not nonfailing, myocytes. Furthermore, spontaneous Ca²⁺ release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum triggers a premature action potential only in failing myocytes. This model of the ventricular action potential and its alterations in heart failure is intended to serve as a tool for investigating the effects of therapeutic interventions on the electric excitability of the human ventricular myocardium.

Key Words: action potential • computer model • arrhythmia • heart failure