Persistence of pro-arrhythmic spatio-temporal calcium patterns in atrial myocytes: a computational study of ping waves

Clusters of ryanodine receptors within atrial myocytes are confined to spatially separated layers. In many species, these layers are not juxtaposed by invaginations of the plasma membrane (transverse tubules; 'T-tubules'), so that calcium-induced-calcium signals rely on centripetal propaga...

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Main Authors: Thul, Ruediger, Coombes, Stephen, Bootman, Martin D.
Format: Article
Published: Frontiers Research Foundation 2012
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/1762/
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author Thul, Ruediger
Coombes, Stephen
Bootman, Martin D.
author_facet Thul, Ruediger
Coombes, Stephen
Bootman, Martin D.
author_sort Thul, Ruediger
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Clusters of ryanodine receptors within atrial myocytes are confined to spatially separated layers. In many species, these layers are not juxtaposed by invaginations of the plasma membrane (transverse tubules; 'T-tubules'), so that calcium-induced-calcium signals rely on centripetal propagation rather than voltage-synchronized channel openings to invade the interior of the cell and trigger contraction. The combination of this specific cellular geometry and dynamics of calcium release can lead to novel autonomous spatio-temporal calcium waves, and in particular ping waves. These are waves of calcium release activity that spread as counter-rotating sectors of elevated calcium within a single layer of ryanodine receptors, and can seed further longitudinal calcium waves. Here we show, using a computational model, that these calcium waves can dominate the response of a cell to electrical pacing and hence are pro-arrhythmic. This highlights the importance of modeling internal cellular structures when investigating mechanisms of cardiac dysfunction such as atrial arrhythmia.
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spelling nottingham-17622020-05-04T20:22:55Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/1762/ Persistence of pro-arrhythmic spatio-temporal calcium patterns in atrial myocytes: a computational study of ping waves Thul, Ruediger Coombes, Stephen Bootman, Martin D. Clusters of ryanodine receptors within atrial myocytes are confined to spatially separated layers. In many species, these layers are not juxtaposed by invaginations of the plasma membrane (transverse tubules; 'T-tubules'), so that calcium-induced-calcium signals rely on centripetal propagation rather than voltage-synchronized channel openings to invade the interior of the cell and trigger contraction. The combination of this specific cellular geometry and dynamics of calcium release can lead to novel autonomous spatio-temporal calcium waves, and in particular ping waves. These are waves of calcium release activity that spread as counter-rotating sectors of elevated calcium within a single layer of ryanodine receptors, and can seed further longitudinal calcium waves. Here we show, using a computational model, that these calcium waves can dominate the response of a cell to electrical pacing and hence are pro-arrhythmic. This highlights the importance of modeling internal cellular structures when investigating mechanisms of cardiac dysfunction such as atrial arrhythmia. Frontiers Research Foundation 2012 Article PeerReviewed Thul, Ruediger, Coombes, Stephen and Bootman, Martin D. (2012) Persistence of pro-arrhythmic spatio-temporal calcium patterns in atrial myocytes: a computational study of ping waves. Frontiers in Physiology, 3 . p. 279. ISSN 1664-042X http://www.frontiersin.org/Computational_Physiology_and_Medicine/10.3389/fphys.2012.00279/abstract doi:10.3389/fphys.2012.00279 doi:10.3389/fphys.2012.00279
spellingShingle Thul, Ruediger
Coombes, Stephen
Bootman, Martin D.
Persistence of pro-arrhythmic spatio-temporal calcium patterns in atrial myocytes: a computational study of ping waves
title Persistence of pro-arrhythmic spatio-temporal calcium patterns in atrial myocytes: a computational study of ping waves
title_full Persistence of pro-arrhythmic spatio-temporal calcium patterns in atrial myocytes: a computational study of ping waves
title_fullStr Persistence of pro-arrhythmic spatio-temporal calcium patterns in atrial myocytes: a computational study of ping waves
title_full_unstemmed Persistence of pro-arrhythmic spatio-temporal calcium patterns in atrial myocytes: a computational study of ping waves
title_short Persistence of pro-arrhythmic spatio-temporal calcium patterns in atrial myocytes: a computational study of ping waves
title_sort persistence of pro-arrhythmic spatio-temporal calcium patterns in atrial myocytes: a computational study of ping waves
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/1762/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/1762/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/1762/