Model and Experimental Studies of Cardiac Conduction Block Using Microscopic Electrical Mapping

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CBET-0756078PollardThe link between microstructural features and arrhythmia development in the heart is not completely understood. Technical approaches to resolve alterations in microstructural features emphasize changes to gap junctions between adjacent myocytes and to the geometric arrangement of the fibrillar collagen network that surrounds those myocytes. Studies of arrhythmia development use traditional cardiac mapping with sets of electrodes positioned at wide spacing relative to the microstructural features of interest. While influences of microstructural alterations on arrhythmia development are often inferred from traditional cardiac mapping, the available spatial resolution prevents identification of the transition from successful conduction to decremental conduction and conduction block that is central to propagation failure. The overriding goal of this proposal is to design and test arrays of very small electrodes separated on a size scale necessary for accurate resolution of conduction block. This will be achieved by bringing together expertise from the diverse research areas of microelectrical mechanical systems (MEMS), theoretical modeling, and cardiac electrophysiology. The intellectual merit of the project is that it will allow spatial regions over which conduction block occurs to be carefully localized. The broad impacts of the project are related to it educational, training and outreach goals, in addition to its implications for improvements in cardiac electrophysiological studies.