A Human Ventricular Myocyte Model with a Refined Representation of Excitation-Contraction Coupling

Abstract

Cardiac Ca2+-induced Ca2+ release (CICR) occurs by a regenerative activation of ryanodine receptors (RyRs) within each Ca2+-releasing unit, triggered by the activation of L-type Ca2+ channels (LCCs). CICR is then terminated, most probably by depletion of Ca2+ in the junctional sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR). Hinch et al. previously developed a tightly coupled LCC-RyR mathematical model, known as the Hinch model, that enables simulations to deal with a variety of functional states of whole-cell populations of a Ca2+-releasing unit using a personal computer. In this study, we developed a membrane excitation-contraction model of the human ventricular myocyte, which we call the human ventricular cell (HuVEC) model. This model is a hybrid of the most recent HuVEC models and the Hinch model. We modified the Hinch model to reproduce the regenerative activation and termination of CICR. In particular, we removed the inactivated RyR state and separated the single step of RyR activation by LCCs into triggering and regenerative steps. More importantly, we included the experimental measurement of a transient rise in Ca2+ concentrations ([Ca2+], 10–15 μM) during CICR in the vicinity of Ca2+-releasing sites, and thereby calculated the effects of the local Ca2+ gradient on CICR as well as membrane excitation. This HuVEC model successfully reconstructed both membrane excitation and key properties of CICR. The time course of CICR evoked by an action potential was accounted for by autonomous changes in an instantaneous equilibrium open probability of couplons. This autonomous time course was driven by a core feedback loop including the pivotal local [Ca2+], influenced by a time-dependent decay in the SR Ca2+ content during CICR.