The goal of this project is to use large-scale, biophysically detailed models of the mammalian sinus node and atrium to understand dynamics of interaction between these two systems under a variety of conditions. Among the specific aims are: 1) development of an SA node - atrial network model incorporating recently discovered date on the interdigitation of these two tissue regions; 2) development of a network model of vagal control of heart rate. Model studies will involve a combination of single cell and network analyses. Dynamics of single cells will be studied using techniques of nonlinear dynamical systems theory. Network simulations will be implemented on both the parallel Connection Machine CM-5 and the symmetric multi-processing Silicon Graphics Power Challenge XL supercomputers.
