One-dimensional simulation of transmural heterogeneity of cardiac cellular electromechanics

Cardiac tissue exhibits transmural heterogeneous electromechanical characteristics which are responsible for normal activation, repolarization, contraction and relaxation in healthy hearts. Under abnormal conditions such as myocardial ischemia (MI), the original heterogeneity will be disrupted and may cause the heart out of function. In this paper, a transmural heterogeneous cellular electromechanics model has been developed. We used the model to simulate and validate transmural heterogeneity of the electrical properties and mechanical properties. In addition, the developed model was also used to simulate ventricular electrocardiograms (ECG) under normal and ischemia conditions on the multi-cellular 1-D fiber model. The results showed that our model could reproduce many transmural heterogeneous electromechanical features of the heart, and were in good accordance with experimental observations. The ECG under normal and ischemia conditions were compared to demonstrate the importance of the precise transmural heterogeneity.