A mechanical bidomain model of cardiac muscle with curving fibers can simulate forces on membrane integrin proteins, providing a framework for future predictions about cardiac growth and remodeling.
Model predictions of integrin forces warrant no practice change; leaves open framework for cardiac remodeling hypotheses.
In the heart, cardiac muscle fibers curve creating zones of membrane forces resulting in regions of mechanotransduction. This study uses the finite difference method to solve the mechanical bidomain equations numerically for a complex fiber geometry. The magnitude of the active tension T is constant but its direction makes an angle with the x-axis that varies with position. Differences between the intracellular and extracellular displacements result from the bidomain behavior of the tissue that gives rise to forces on the integrin proteins in the membrane. The long-term goal is to use the mechanical bidomain model to suggest experiments and make predictions about growth and remodeling in the heart.
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Sharma et al. (2018) studied this question.
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