A survey of pathways for mechano-electric coupling in the atria
File(s)1-s2.0-S0079610720300997-main.pdf (1.36 MB)
Published version
OA Location
Author(s)
Varela Anjari, Marta
Roy, Aditi
lee, jack
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Mechano-electric coupling (MEC) in atrial tissue has received sparse investigation to date, despite the well-known association between chronic atrial dilation and atrial fibrillation (AF). Of note, no fewer than six different mechanisms pertaining to stretch-activated channels, cellular capacitance and geometric effects have been identified in the literature as potential players. In this mini review, we briefly survey each of these pathways to MEC. We then perform computational simulations using single cell and tissue models in presence of various stretch regimes and MEC pathways. This allows us to assess the relative significance of each pathway in determining action potential duration, conduction velocity and rotor stability. For chronic atrial stretch, we find that stretch-induced alterations in membrane capacitance decrease conduction velocity and increase action potential duration, in agreement with experimental findings. In the presence of time-dependent passive atrial stretch, stretch-activated channels play the largest role, leading to after-depolarizations and rotor hypermeandering. These findings suggest that physiological atrial stretches, such as passive stretch during the atrial reservoir phase, may play an important part in the mechanisms of atrial arrhythmogenesis.
Date Issued
2021-01
Date Acceptance
2020-09-29
Citation
Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology, 2021, 159, pp.136-145
ISSN
0079-6107
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
136
End Page
145
Journal / Book Title
Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology
Volume
159
Copyright Statement
©2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
License URL
Sponsor
British Heart Foundation
Identifier
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0079610720300997?via%3Dihub
Grant Number
RE/18/4/34215
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Biophysics
Mechano-electric coupling
Atrial fibrillation
Computational modelling
Stretch-activated currents
Stretch
Atrial electrophysiology
STRETCH-INDUCED CHANGES
FINITE-ELEMENT
PULMONARY VEIN
CONDUCTION
MODEL
FIBRILLATION
FEEDBACK
MECHANICS
MYOCYTES
CURRENTS
Atrial electrophysiology.
Atrial fibrillation
Computational modelling
Mechano-electric coupling
Stretch
Stretch-activated currents
q-bio.QM
q-bio.QM
Biophysics
0601 Biochemistry and Cell Biology
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2020-10-11