Cardiac function is tightly regulated by the autonomic nervous system (ANS). Activation of the sympathetic nervous system increases cardiac output by increasing heart rate and stroke volume, while parasympathetic nerve stimulation instantly slows heart rate. Importantly, imbalance in autonomic control of the heart has been implicated in the development of arrhythmias and heart failure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRationale: Drug-induced proarrhythmia is so tightly associated with prolongation of the QT interval that QT prolongation is an accepted surrogate marker for arrhythmia. But QT interval is too sensitive a marker and not selective, resulting in many useful drugs eliminated in drug discovery.
Objective: To predict the impact of a drug from the drug chemistry on the cardiac rhythm.
Multi-scale computational modeling is a major branch of computational biology as evidenced by the US federal interagency Multi-Scale Modeling Consortium and major international projects. It invariably involves specific and detailed sequences of data analysis and simulation, often with multiple tools and datasets, and the community recognizes improved modularity, reuse, reproducibility, portability and scalability as critical unmet needs in this area. Scientific workflows are a well-recognized strategy for addressing these needs in scientific computing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFKey Points: This study represents a first step toward predicting mechanisms of sex-based arrhythmias that may lead to important developments in risk stratification and may inform future drug design and screening. We undertook simulations to reveal the conditions (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSubcellular compartmentation of the ubiquitous second messenger cAMP has been widely proposed as a mechanism to explain unique receptor-dependent functional responses. How exactly compartmentation is achieved, however, has remained a mystery for more than 40 years. In this study, we developed computational and mathematical models to represent a subcellular sarcomeric space in a cardiac myocyte with varying detail.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe mechanism of therapeutic efficacy of flecainide for catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT) is unclear. Model predictions suggest that Na(+) channel effects are insufficient to explain flecainide efficacy in CPVT. This study represents a first step toward predicting therapeutic mechanisms of drug efficacy in the setting of CPVT and then using these mechanisms to guide modelling and simulation to predict alternative drug therapies.
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