Anatomically realistic multiscale models of normal and abnormal gastrointestinal electrical activity

Abstract

One of the major aims of the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS) Physiome Project is to develop multiscale mathematical and computer models that can be used to help understand human health. We present here a small facet of this broad plan that applies to the gastrointestinal system. Specifically, we present an anatomically and physiologically based modelling framework that is capable of simulating normal and pathological electrical activity within the stomach and small intestine. The continuum models used within this framework have been created using anatomical information derived from common medical imaging modalities and data from the Visible Human Project. These models explicitly incorporate the various smooth muscle layers and networks of interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) that are known to exist within the walls of the stomach and small bowel. Electrical activity within individual ICCs and smooth muscle cells is simulated using a previously published simplified representation of the cell level electrical activity. This simulated cell level activity is incorporated into a bidomain representation of the tissue, allowing electrical activity of the entire stomach or intestine to be simulated in the anatomically derived models. This electrical modelling framework successfully replicates many of the qualitative features of the slow wave activity within the stomach and intestine and has also been used to investigate activity associated with functional uncoupling of the stomach.