Improved Models of Calcium Ion Dynamics

Calcium (Ca²⁺) dynamics regulate the excitation-contraction coupling in heart muscle cells and hence are among the key players in maintaining normal activity of the heart. Many existing ventricular single cell models lack the biophysically detailed description of the Ca²⁺ dynamics. In this work we examine how we can improve existing ventricular cell models by replacing their description of Ca²⁺  dynamics with the local Ca²⁺ control models. When replacing the existing Ca²⁺ dynamics in a given cell model with a different Ca²⁺ description, the parameters of the subsystem need to be re-fitted. Moreover, the search through the plausible parameter space is computationally very intensive. Thus, the Grid enabled Nimrod/O software tool is used for optimizing the cell parameters. Nimrod/O provides a convenient, user-friendly framework for this.