Cellular modeling and simulation of brugada syndrome

Abstract

A mathematical model of the action potential (AP) of human ventricular cell is constructed and used in simulation studies of Brugada syndrome. The model is based on Luo-Rudy model, and refined by recent experimental data on major ionic currents, and the formulations of ten Tusscher et al are also introduced into our model. The results show that the endocardial and midmyocardial cells AP have little changes in Brugada syndrome compared with that of normal heart, but the epicardial cell AP changes obviously. We also investigate the temperature dependent and heart rate dependent Brugada syndrome. The results show that when the body temperature increases to 39.5degC or the cardiac length is larger than 1000 ms, the Brugada syndrome epicardial cell APs may appear suddenly change, which is very likely to induce sudden death. The result may explain why some Brugada syndrome patients easily to die suddenly during a febrile state or during the night when they are sleeping. These results are in good accordance with the experiment findings reported in the literatures