Distribution of electromechanical delay in the heart: insights from a three-dimensional electromechanical model.

ABSTRACT: In the intact heart, the distribution of electromechanical delay (EMD), the time interval between local depolarization and myocyte shortening onset, depends on the loading conditions. The distribution of EMD throughout the heart remains, however, unknown because current experimental techniques are unable to evaluate three-dimensional cardiac electromechanical behavior. The goal of this study was to determine the three-dimensional EMD distributions in the intact ventricles for sinus rhythm (SR) and epicardial pacing (EP) by using a new, to our knowledge, electromechanical model of the rabbit ventricles that incorporates a biophysical representation of myofilament dynamics. Furthermore, we aimed to ascertain the mechanisms that underlie the specific three-dimensional EMD distributions. The r

SUBMITTER: Gurev V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2913183 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature