Bioengineering Analysis of Three-Dimensional Electromechanical Interactions in the Heart

9634974 McCulloch心脏是一个复杂的三维肌肉器官，其中电信号触发协调的肌肉收缩以产生泵送动作。 不仅心脏的电系统影响其机械泵送，而且力学也影响电系统。 这些相互作用的原因已经在单个心肌细胞的水平上进行了非常详细的研究。 但是，由于心脏壁的复杂解剖结构和结构，了解这些细胞特性如何影响整个心脏的性能变得非常困难。 如果细胞生物科学的新发现要应用于心脏病的预防和诊断以及心脏病患者的治疗，这种理解是必不可少的。 因此，本研究的目的是开发解剖学上准确的心脏计算机模型，这些模型完全基于心脏细胞的基本物理学和生物学。 为了测试这些模型，将在仔细的实验中进行精确的测量。 在我们过去五年工作的基础上，我们将使用类似于汽车和航空航天工业中使用的分析方法进行复杂的新心脏计算机模型。 我们的方法专门用于处理心脏生物学的独特复杂性。 模型VI II是基于详细的新的测量的形状和结构，机械，电气和细胞特性的心脏壁。 因为这些模型对即使是最快的计算机也要求极高，我们将在圣地亚哥超级计算机中心的超级计算机上运行它们。 完成的计算机模型将用于研究未回答的问题，即单个心脏细胞的机电特性如何影响整个心脏的性能。 为了测试计算机模型的可靠性和准确性，将开发新的实验方法来同时研究心脏的电学和机械特性。 这些测量将用于改进模型，然后可以扩展到分析心脏中的力学和其他生理过程（如血流）之间的相互作用。 “这些新的计算机模型将在心脏生理学、新的心脏诊断和治疗方法的生物工程设计（如心脏超声、MRI和起搏器）以及作为医生和患者、科学家、学生和工程师的教育和培训的模拟工具方面有不同的应用。 ***

9634974 McCulloch The heart is a complex three-dimensional muscular organ in which electrical signals trigger coordinated muscle contraction to produce the pumping action. Not only does the electrical system of the heart affect its mechanical pumping, but mechanics also affect the electrical system. The cause of these interactions has been studied in great detail at the level of the individual heart muscle cell. But understanding how these cellular properties affect the performance of the whole heart is made extremely difficult by the complex anatomy and structure of the heart wall. Such an understanding is essential if the new findings of cellular biological science are to be applied to the prevention and diagnosis of cardiac disease and the treatment of heart patients. Therefore, the objective of this research is to develop anatomically accurate computer models of the heart that are based soundly on the underlying physics and biology of the heart cells. To test these models, accurate measurements in careful experiments will be conducted. Building on our work over the past five years, we will conduct sophisticated new computer models of the heart using methods of analysis similar to those used in the automotive and aerospace industries. Our methods have been specialized to handle the unique complexities of cardiac biology. The models vi II be based on detailed new measurements of the shape and structure, mechanical, electrical and cellular properties of the heart wall. Because these models will be extremely demanding to even the fastest computers, we will run them on supercomputers at the San Diego Supercomputer Center. The completed computer models will be used to investigate unanswered questions about how the electromechanical properties of individual heart cells affect the performance of the whole heart. To test the reliability and accuracy of the computer models, new experimental methods will be developed for simultaneously studying electrical and mechanical properties in the heart. These measurements will be used to improve the models, which can then be extended to analyze interactions between mechanics and other physiological processes in the heart such as bloodflow. 'These new computer models will have diverse applications in cardiac physiology, in the bioengineering design of new cardiac diagnostic and treatment methods (such as cardiac ultrasound, MRI and pacemakers) and as simulation tools for education and training of doctors and patients, scientists, students and engineers. ***