Simulation of hypertrophy in rat left ventricular cells

Left ventricular hypertrophy induces remodeling for various ion channels. We modified a model of electrical activity of rat ventricular cell by incorporating available experimental data on the kinetics and conductances of various currents. We simulated hypertrophy by incorporating experimental data of changes in channel kinetics, cell size and Ca²⁺ handling. The simulated action potentials (AP) and calcium transients consistent with experimental data. We developed virtual ventricular strands to investigate the rate dependent propagation in homogenous tissue under normal and hypertrophic conditions. A continuous increase in APD and corresponding decrease in conduction velocity (CV) with subsequent beats was observed, resulting in irregular conduction block at low values of stimulus intervals (SI), for which the simulated action potential duration (APD) restitution of the cell models has negative slope.