TY - JOUR T1 - Effects of Electrical and Structural Remodeling on Atrial Fibrillation Maintenance: A Simulation Study A1 - Krogh-Madsen, Trine A1 - Abbott, Geoffrey W. A1 - Christini, David J. Y1 - 2012/02/23 N2 - Author Summary Atrial fibrillation is an abnormal heart rhythm characterized by rapid and irregular activation of the upper chambers of the heart. Atrial fibrillation often shows a natural progression towards longer and more frequently occurring episodes and often occurs in patients with existing heart disease(s). Because atrial fibrillation has several variants, is complex in nature, and evolves over time, it is very difficult and expensive to study comprehensively in large-animal models, in part due to the inherent technical difficulties of imaging whole-atria electrophysiology in vivo. Predictive multiscale computational modeling has the potential to fill this research void. We have incorporated aspects of chronic atrial fibrillation to model some of its various disease states. As such, this study represents the first comprehensive computational study of chronic atrial fibrillation maintenance in a biophysically detailed cell model in a realistic three-dimensional anatomy. Our simulations show that disease-like modifications to cellular processes, as well as to the coupling between cells, perpetuate simulated atrial fibrillation by accelerating the rhythm and/or increasing the number of circulating activation waves. Given the model's ability to reproduce a number of clinically and experimentally important features, we believe that it presents a useful framework for future studies of atrial electrodynamics in response to, e.g., ion channel mutations and various drugs. JF - PLOS Computational Biology JA - PLOS Computational Biology VL - 8 IS - 2 UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002390 SP - e1002390 EP - PB - Public Library of Science M3 - doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002390 ER -