Hierarchical modeling of length-dependent force generation in cardiac muscles and associated thermodynamically-consistent numerical schemes
Résumé
In the context of cardiac muscle modeling, the availability of the myosin heads in the sarcomeres varies over the heart cycle contributing to the Frank-Starling mechanism at the organ level. In this paper, we propose a new approach that allows to extend the Huxley'57 muscle contraction model equations to incorporate this variation. This extension is built in a thermodynamically consistent manner, and we also propose adapted numerical methods that satisfy thermodynamical balances at the discrete level. Moreover, this whole approach-both for the model and the numerics-is devised within a hierarchical strategy enabling the coupling of the microscopic sarcomere-level equations with the macroscopic tissue-level description. As an important illustration, coupling our model with a previously proposed simplified heart model, we demonstrate the ability of the modeling and numerical framework to capture the essential features of the Frank-Starling mechanism.
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