Stochastic modelling of cardiac cell structure

Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2010:2010:3257-60. doi: 10.1109/IEMBS.2010.5627229.

Abstract

Anatomically realistic and biophysically based computational models of the heart have provided valuable insights into cardiac function in health and disease. Nevertheless, these models typically use a "black-box" approach to describe the cellular level processes that underlie the heart beat. We are developing techniques to stochastically generate three-dimensional models of mammalian ventricular myocytes that exhibit salient characteristics of the spatial organisation of key cellular organelles in cardiac cell excitation and contraction. Such anatomically detailed models will facilitate a deeper understanding of cardiac function at multiple scales. This paper presents an important first step towards understanding and modelling the spatial distribution of two key organelles in cardiac cell contraction - myofibrils and mitochondria. The sarcolemma, myofibrils and mitochondria were segmented from transmission electron micrographs of ventricular cells from a healthy wistar rat. The centroids of the myofibrils and mitochondria were calculated, and various spatial statistical techniques for characterising the centroid distribution and inter-point interactions were investigated and implemented using the R spatstat package. Techniques for modelling the observed spatial patterns were also investigated, and preliminary results indicate that the Strauss Hard-core model best captures the interaction observed. We intend to confirm these results with larger sample of cells.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Computer Simulation
  • Heart Ventricles / ultrastructure*
  • Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / methods
  • Models, Anatomic*
  • Models, Cardiovascular*
  • Models, Statistical
  • Myocytes, Cardiac / ultrastructure*
  • Rats
  • Rats, Wistar
  • Stochastic Processes