Simulating the effects of atrial fibrillation in electrically heterogeneous human atria: A computer modelling study

We postulated that atrial fibrillation (AF) induced electrical remodelling in electrically heterogeneous human atria facilitates chronic AF. A modern biophysically detailed mathematical model of human atrial action potential was modified to incorporate electrophysiological properties of different cell types present within the atria. The heterogeneous cell models were then further modified to incorporate data on AF induced electrical remodelling (AFER) of ion channel kinetics and current densities. These modified models were used to simulate electrical activity in cells, ID strands and 2D heterogeneous sheets. AFER heterogeneously reduced action potential duration in all cell types. The theme of inhomogeneous response to AFER was observed through all cell and ID simulations. Sheet simulations showed that whilst re-entry self terminated in the control case, it persisted under AFER conditions.