Startseite Effects of fibrosis on the extracellular potential based on 3D reconstructions from histological sections of heart tissue
Artikel Open Access

Effects of fibrosis on the extracellular potential based on 3D reconstructions from histological sections of heart tissue

A proof of concept simulation study
  • Markus Rottmann EMAIL logo , Jannik Zürn , Ufuk Arslan , Karin Klingel und Olaf Dössel
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 30. September 2016
Veröffentlichen auch Sie bei De Gruyter Brill

Abstract

Atrial fibrillation is the most common arrhythmia. However, the mechanisms of AF are not completely understood. It is known that fractionated signals are measured in AF but the etiology of fractionated signals is still not clear. The central question is to evaluate the effects of segmented fibrotic areas in histological tissue sections on the extracellular potential in a simulation study. We calculated the transmembrane voltages and extracellular potentials from the excitation wave front around a 3D fibrotic area from mouse hearts that were reconstructed from histological tissue sections. Extracellular potentials resulted in fragmented signals and differed strongly by stimulations from different directions. The transmural angle of the excitation waves had a significantly influence on the signal morphologies. We suggest for future clinical systems to implement the possibility for substrate mapping by stimulations from different directions in sinus rhythm.

1 Introduction

AF is a common arrhythmia and frequently fractionated signals are measured [1], [2]. The mechanisms of AF and the correlation with typically unipolar signals and in particular fractionated signals are not well understood [3], [4], [5]. There are simulation studies of correlations of intracardiac signals in AF [6], [7] and correlations with fibrosis, but the fibrotic patterns were in the whole myocardium between endocardium and epicardium and the implementation was based on random numbers [8] or implemented in a 2D area [9]. For the first time we calculated extracellular potentials from the excitation around a 3D fibrotic area reconstructed from real fibrotic areas obtained in histological heart tissue sections. In this proof of concept the correlation between fibrotic area and fractionated signals is presented. Also, the influences of the transmural angle of the wave front and stimulations from different directions on the extracellular potential are presented.

2 Methods

2.1 Histological tissue sections

In order to investigate cardiac fibrosis in vivo, we used a mouse model of chronic CVB3 myocarditis. Hearts were obtained 4 weeks after CVB3 infection of ABY/SnJ mice, at a time point when fibrosis is obvious. The hearts were fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde and embedded in paraffin. 5 μm thick tissue sections covering the right and left ventricle were cut with a distance of 10 μm and stained with Sirius red. The red staining illustrates myocardial fibrosis. Images from the same area of 60 consecutive tissue sections were taken with a Zeiss Axioskop 40 microscope and used for reconstruction by manual registering. Figure 1 shows exemplarily histological tissue sections of the right and left ventricle of 10x and 100x magnification.

Figure 1 High resolution image of ventricular histological tissue sections at a microscopic magnification of × 10 (A). (B) is the inset of (A) at a magnification of × 100. The Sirius red staining illustrates myocardial fibrosis.
Figure 1

High resolution image of ventricular histological tissue sections at a microscopic magnification of × 10 (A). (B) is the inset of (A) at a magnification of × 100. The Sirius red staining illustrates myocardial fibrosis.

2.2 3D reconstructions from histological tissue sections

The dimensions of the histological images were 750 μm by 1000 μm. In order to obtain a 3D reconstruction of the fibrotic tissue by using identified landmarks, we manually segmented fibrosis of each image obtained from the same area of consecutive heart tissue sections. We created binary images in which the pixels corresponding to fibrotic tissue are marked with 1, and the other tissue types with 0. Then we rescaled the images in order to get cubic voxels with edge length of 12.5 μm. Then we applied of a scaling factor of 20 to get from mouse-size atrium to human-size atrium.

In a further step we created a 3D model of the fibrotic tissue by stacking the single segmented images on top of each other, see Figure 2. The 3D reconstruction of the fibrotic area consisted of voxels with edge length of 0.25 mm.

Figure 2 3D Reconstruction of the fibrotic tissue from segmented histological tissue sections in (A) front view, (B) behind view.
Figure 2

3D Reconstruction of the fibrotic tissue from segmented histological tissue sections in (A) front view, (B) behind view.

2.3 Calculation of cardiac potentials and modelling of fibrosis

Transmembrane voltages were calculated using the monodomain equation with the parallel solver aCELLerate [10].

(1)rσMrVM=β(CmdVmdtImem)=βIm

VM, represents the transmembrane voltage, σM the bulk conductivity and β the cell- surface to volume ratio [8]. By forward calculation [8] extracellular potentials were calculated based on transmembrane source current density [9] with a sampling rate of 1 kHz. To describe ventricular behaviour the cell model of Ten Tusscher et al. was used. The simulation geometry consisted on a regular grid of cubic elements. The 3D patch had the size of 200 × 200 × 200 voxels with the voxel length 0.25 mm. The manually segmented fibrotic area was implemented in healthy tissue. Segmented collagenous structures from the histological tissue sections were modelled as fibrotic elements without consideration of tissue conductivity and sodium handling [8].

3 Results

3.1 Transmembrane voltages of plane wave stimulation

The tissue was stimulated in the upper part of the tissue. In Figure 3 the meandering of the excitation wave fronts around the fibrotic area is depicted at different times. The transmural angle and the conduction velocity of the splitted excitation fronts varied at different times. Because of the reaction diffusion behaviour the excitation became a nearly plane wave again in the lower part.

Figure 3 Transmembrane voltages of an excitation around fibrotic area at the times 10 ms, 28 ms, 38 ms and 42 ms.
Figure 3

Transmembrane voltages of an excitation around fibrotic area at the times 10 ms, 28 ms, 38 ms and 42 ms.

3.2 Transmembrane voltages and extracellular potentials of stimulation with transmural angle

Transmembrane and extracellular potentials of the stimulation in the left upper corner (10 × 10 × 10 voxels) resulted in fractionated extracellular signals, see Figure 4.

Figure 4 Left: Excitation wave front of the transmembrane voltage at time 18 ms and corresponding signal at the measurement point. Right: Excitation wave front of the extracellular potential at time 18 ms and corresponding signal.
Figure 4

Left: Excitation wave front of the transmembrane voltage at time 18 ms and corresponding signal at the measurement point. Right: Excitation wave front of the extracellular potential at time 18 ms and corresponding signal.

3.3 Signal analysis

Figure 4 shows the resulting transmembrane potential at the selected measurement point in the first tissue layer close to the blood layers. Furthermore the corresponding extracellular potential at the first blood layer close to the tissue is presented. The measured unipolar signal was strongly deformed from ideal signal form of healthy tissue. Unipolar signals measured at the endocardium were on the one hand dependent on the fibrosis and on the other hand dependent on the direction of the wave front. Especially the transmural angle of the wave front had a significant influence on the signal form.

4 Discussion and summary

This work presents the first simulation study of 3D fibrosis reconstructed from histologically reconstructed murine heart tissue. We present a proof of principle that fractionated signals can be measured from real fibrotic areas reconstructed from histological tissue sections. The patterns of fibrosis are similar to those observed in humans. On the one hand fractionated signal morphologies from unipolar recordings could be correlated with fibrotic areas, on the other hand the signal morphologies were strongly dependent on the parameters of the excitation wave direction and transmural angle. Future clinical systems might implement fibrosis mapping by stimulations from various directions in sinus rhythm. We used several simplifications in this proof of concept simulation study in the 3D reconstruction of fibrosis. Furthermore we translated animal heart fibrosis to a human model of fibrosis.

Author’s Statement

Research funding: The author state no funding involved. Conflict of interest: Authors state no conflict of interest. Material and methods: Informed consent: Informed consent is not applicable. Ethical approval: The research related to animal use complies with all the relevant national regulations and institutional policies for the care and use of animals.

References

[1] Nademanee K, McKenzie J, Kosar E, Schwab M, Sunsaneewitayakul B, Vasavakul T, et al. A new approach for catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation: mapping of the electrophysiologic substrate. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2004;43:2044–53.10.1016/j.jacc.2003.12.054Suche in Google Scholar PubMed

[2] de Jong S, van Veen TA, van Rijen HV, de Bakker JM. Fibrosis and cardiac arrhythmias. J Cardiovasc Pharm. 2011;57:630–8.10.1097/FJC.0b013e318207a35fSuche in Google Scholar PubMed

[3] Spach MS, Heidlage JF, Dolber PC, Barr RC. Mechanism of origin of conduction disturbances in aging human atrial bundles: experimental and model study. Heart Rhythm. 2007;4:175–85.10.1016/j.hrthm.2006.10.023Suche in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central

[4] Jacquemet V, Henriquez CS. Genesis of complex fractionated atrial electrograms in zones of slow conduction: a computer model of microfibrosis. Heart Rhythm. 2009;6:803–10.10.1016/j.hrthm.2009.02.026Suche in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central

[5] Jacquemet V, Henriquez CS. Genesis of complex fractionated atrial electrograms in zones of slow conduction: a computer model of microfibrosis. Heart Rhythm. 2009;6:803–10.10.1016/j.hrthm.2009.02.026Suche in Google Scholar

[6] Rottmann, M, Keller MW, Oesterlein T, Seemann G, Doessel O. Comparison of different methods and catheter designs to estimate the rotor tip position - a simulation study. Computing in Cardiology Conference. 2014:133–136.Suche in Google Scholar

[7] Rottmann M, Unger L, Kaltenbacher W, Seemann G, Loewe A, Krueger MW, et al. Methods for analyzing signal characteristics of stable and unstable rotors in a realistic heart model. Computing in Cardiology Conference 2015:485–488.10.1109/CIC.2015.7410953Suche in Google Scholar

[8] Keller MW, Luik A, Soltan Abady M, Seemann G, Schmitt C, Dössel O, et al. Influence of three-dimensional fibrotic patterns on simulated intracardiac electrogram morphology Computing in Cardiology. 2013.Suche in Google Scholar

[9] Campos F, Wiener T, Prassl A, Weber Dos Santos R, Sanchez-Quintana D, Ahammer H, et al. Electro-anatomical characterization of atrial microfibrosis in a histologically detailed computer model. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2013.10.1109/TBME.2013.2256359Suche in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central

[10] Seemann G, Sachse FB, Karl M, Weiss DL, Heuveline V, Doessel O. Framework for modular, flexible and efficient solving the cardiac bidomain equation using PETSC. Mathematics in Industry. 2010;15:363–9.10.1007/978-3-642-12110-4_55Suche in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2016-9-30
Published in Print: 2016-9-1

©2016 Markus Rottmann et al., licensee De Gruyter.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Artikel in diesem Heft

  1. Synthesis and characterization of PIL/pNIPAAm hybrid hydrogels
  2. Novel blood protein based scaffolds for cardiovascular tissue engineering
  3. Cell adhesion and viability of human endothelial cells on electrospun polymer scaffolds
  4. Effects of heat treatment and welding process on superelastic behaviour and microstructure of micro electron beam welded NiTi
  5. Long-term stable modifications of silicone elastomer for improved hemocompatibility
  6. The effect of thermal treatment on the mechanical properties of PLLA tubular specimens
  7. Biocompatible wear-resistant thick ceramic coating
  8. Protection of active implant electronics with organosilicon open air plasma coating for plastic overmolding
  9. Examination of dielectric strength of thin Parylene C films under various conditions
  10. Open air plasma deposited antimicrobial SiOx/TiOx composite films for biomedical applications
  11. Systemic analysis about residual chloroform in PLLA films
  12. A macrophage model of osseointegration
  13. Towards in silico prognosis using big data
  14. Technical concept and evaluation of a novel shoulder simulator with adaptive muscle force generation and free motion
  15. Usability evaluation of a locomotor therapy device considering different strategies
  16. Hypoxia-on-a-chip
  17. Integration of a semi-automatic in-vitro RFA procedure into an experimental setup
  18. Fabrication of MEMS-based 3D-μECoG-MEAs
  19. High speed digital interfacing for a neural data acquisition system
  20. Bionic forceps for the handling of sensitive tissue
  21. Experimental studies on 3D printing of barium titanate ceramics for medical applications
  22. Patient specific root-analogue dental implants – additive manufacturing and finite element analysis
  23. 3D printing – a key technology for tailored biomedical cell culture lab ware
  24. 3D printing of hydrogels in a temperature controlled environment with high spatial resolution
  25. Biocompatibility of photopolymers for additive manufacturing
  26. Biochemical piezoresistive sensors based on pH- and glucose-sensitive hydrogels for medical applications
  27. Novel wireless measurement system of pressure dedicated to in vivo studies
  28. Portable auricular device for real-time swallow and chew detection
  29. Detection of miRNA using a surface plasmon resonance biosensor and antibody amplification
  30. Simulation and evaluation of stimulation scenarios for targeted vestibular nerve excitation
  31. Deep brain stimulation: increasing efficiency by alternative waveforms
  32. Prediction of immediately occurring microsleep events from brain electric signals
  33. Determining cardiac vagal threshold from short term heart rate complexity
  34. Classification of cardiac excitation patterns during atrial fibrillation
  35. An algorithm to automatically determine the cycle length coverage to identify rotational activity during atrial fibrillation – a simulation study
  36. Deriving respiration from high resolution 12-channel-ECG during cycling exercise
  37. Reducing of gradient induced artifacts on the ECG signal during MRI examinations using Wilcoxon filter
  38. Automatic detection and mapping of double potentials in intracardiac electrograms
  39. Modeling the pelvic region for non-invasive pelvic intraoperative neuromonitoring
  40. Postprocessing algorithm for automated analysis of pelvic intraoperative neuromonitoring signals
  41. Best practice: surgeon driven application in pelvic operations
  42. Vasomotor assessment by camera-based photoplethysmography
  43. Classification of morphologic changes in photoplethysmographic waveforms
  44. Novel computation of pulse transit time from multi-channel PPG signals by wavelet transform
  45. Efficient design of FIR filter based low-pass differentiators for biomedical signal processing
  46. Nonlinear causal influences assessed by mutual compression entropy
  47. Comparative study of methods for solving the correspondence problem in EMD applications
  48. fNIRS for future use in auditory diagnostics
  49. Semi-automated detection of fractional shortening in zebrafish embryo heart videos
  50. Blood pressure measurement on the cheek
  51. Derivation of the respiratory rate from directly and indirectly measured respiratory signals using autocorrelation
  52. Left cardiac atrioventricular delay and inter-ventricular delay in cardiac resynchronization therapy responder and non-responder
  53. An automatic systolic peak detector of blood pressure waveforms using 4th order cumulants
  54. Real-time QRS detection using integrated variance for ECG gated cardiac MRI
  55. Preprocessing of unipolar signals acquired by a novel intracardiac mapping system
  56. In-vitro experiments to characterize ventricular electromechanics
  57. Continuous non-invasive monitoring of blood pressure in the operating room: a cuffless optical technology at the fingertip
  58. Application of microwave sensor technology in cardiovascular disease for plaque detection
  59. Artificial blood circulatory and special Ultrasound Doppler probes for detecting and sizing gaseous embolism
  60. Detection of microsleep events in a car driving simulation study using electrocardiographic features
  61. A method to determine the kink resistance of stents and stent delivery systems according to international standards
  62. Comparison of stented bifurcation and straight vessel 3D-simulation with a prior simulated velocity profile inlet
  63. Transient Euler-Lagrange/DEM simulation of stent thrombosis
  64. Automated control of the laser welding process of heart valve scaffolds
  65. Automation of a test bench for accessing the bendability of electrospun vascular grafts
  66. Influence of storage conditions on the release of growth factors in platelet-rich blood derivatives
  67. Cryopreservation of cells using defined serum-free cryoprotective agents
  68. New bioreactor vessel for tissue engineering of human nasal septal chondrocytes
  69. Determination of the membrane hydraulic permeability of MSCs
  70. Climate retainment in carbon dioxide incubators
  71. Multiple factors influencing OR ventilation system effectiveness
  72. Evaluation of an app-based stress protocol
  73. Medication process in Styrian hospitals
  74. Control tower to surgical theater
  75. Development of a skull phantom for the assessment of implant X-ray visibility
  76. Surgical navigation with QR codes
  77. Investigation of the pressure gradient of embolic protection devices
  78. Computer assistance in femoral derotation osteotomy: a bottom-up approach
  79. Automatic depth scanning system for 3D infrared thermography
  80. A service for monitoring the quality of intraoperative cone beam CT images
  81. Resectoscope with an easy to use twist mechanism for improved handling
  82. In vitro simulation of distribution processes following intramuscular injection
  83. Adjusting inkjet printhead parameters to deposit drugs into micro-sized reservoirs
  84. A flexible standalone system with integrated sensor feedback for multi-pad electrode FES of the hand
  85. Smart control for functional electrical stimulation with optimal pulse intensity
  86. Tactile display on the remaining hand for unilateral hand amputees
  87. Effects of sustained electrical stimulation on spasticity assessed by the pendulum test
  88. An improved tracking framework for ultrasound probe localization in image-guided radiosurgery
  89. Improvement of a subviral particle tracker by the use of a LAP-Kalman-algorithm
  90. Learning discriminative classification models for grading anal intraepithelial neoplasia
  91. Regularization of EIT reconstruction based on multi-scales wavelet transforms
  92. Assessing MRI susceptibility artefact through an indicator of image distortion
  93. EyeGuidance – a computer controlled system to guide eye movements
  94. A framework for feedback-based segmentation of 3D image stacks
  95. Doppler optical coherence tomography as a promising tool for detecting fluid in the human middle ear
  96. 3D Local in vivo Environment (LivE) imaging for single cell protein analysis of bone tissue
  97. Inside-Out access strategy using new trans-vascular catheter approach
  98. US/MRI fusion with new optical tracking and marker approach for interventional procedures inside the MRI suite
  99. Impact of different registration methods in MEG source analysis
  100. 3D segmentation of thyroid ultrasound images using active contours
  101. Designing a compact MRI motion phantom
  102. Cerebral cortex classification by conditional random fields applied to intraoperative thermal imaging
  103. Classification of indirect immunofluorescence images using thresholded local binary count features
  104. Analysis of muscle fatigue conditions using time-frequency images and GLCM features
  105. Numerical evaluation of image parameters of ETR-1
  106. Fabrication of a compliant phantom of the human aortic arch for use in Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) experimentation
  107. Effect of the number of electrodes on the reconstructed lung shape in electrical impedance tomography
  108. Hardware dependencies of GPU-accelerated beamformer performances for microwave breast cancer detection
  109. Computer assisted assessment of progressing osteoradionecrosis of the jaw for clinical diagnosis and treatment
  110. Evaluation of reconstruction parameters of electrical impedance tomography on aorta detection during saline bolus injection
  111. Evaluation of open-source software for the lung segmentation
  112. Automatic determination of lung features of CF patients in CT scans
  113. Image analysis of self-organized multicellular patterns
  114. Effect of key parameters on synthesis of superparamagnetic nanoparticles (SPIONs)
  115. Radiopacity assessment of neurovascular implants
  116. Development of a desiccant based dielectric for monitoring humidity conditions in miniaturized hermetic implantable packages
  117. Development of an artifact-free aneurysm clip
  118. Enhancing the regeneration of bone defects by alkalizing the peri-implant zone – an in vitro approach
  119. Rapid prototyping of replica knee implants for in vitro testing
  120. Protecting ultra- and hyperhydrophilic implant surfaces in dry state from loss of wettability
  121. Advanced wettability analysis of implant surfaces
  122. Patient-specific hip prostheses designed by surgeons
  123. Plasma treatment on novel carbon fiber reinforced PEEK cages to enhance bioactivity
  124. Wear of a total intervertebral disc prosthesis
  125. Digital health and digital biomarkers – enabling value chains on health data
  126. Usability in the lifecycle of medical software development
  127. Influence of different test gases in a non-destructive 100% quality control system for medical devices
  128. Device development guided by user satisfaction survey on auricular vagus nerve stimulation
  129. Empirical assessment of the time course of innovation in biomedical engineering: first results of a comparative approach
  130. Effect of left atrial hypertrophy on P-wave morphology in a computational model
  131. Simulation of intracardiac electrograms around acute ablation lesions
  132. Parametrization of activation based cardiac electrophysiology models using bidomain model simulations
  133. Assessment of nasal resistance using computational fluid dynamics
  134. Resistance in a non-linear autoregressive model of pulmonary mechanics
  135. Inspiratory and expiratory elastance in a non-linear autoregressive model of pulmonary mechanics
  136. Determination of regional lung function in cystic fibrosis using electrical impedance tomography
  137. Development of parietal bone surrogates for parietal graft lift training
  138. Numerical simulation of mechanically stimulated bone remodelling
  139. Conversion of engineering stresses to Cauchy stresses in tensile and compression tests of thermoplastic polymers
  140. Numerical examinations of simplified spondylodesis models concerning energy absorption in magnetic resonance imaging
  141. Principle study on the signal connection at transabdominal fetal pulse oximetry
  142. Influence of Siluron® insertion on model drug distribution in the simulated vitreous body
  143. Evaluating different approaches to identify a three parameter gas exchange model
  144. Effects of fibrosis on the extracellular potential based on 3D reconstructions from histological sections of heart tissue
  145. From imaging to hemodynamics – how reconstruction kernels influence the blood flow predictions in intracranial aneurysms
  146. Flow optimised design of a novel point-of-care diagnostic device for the detection of disease specific biomarkers
  147. Improved FPGA controlled artificial vascular system for plethysmographic measurements
  148. Minimally spaced electrode positions for multi-functional chest sensors: ECG and respiratory signal estimation
  149. Automated detection of alveolar arches for nasoalveolar molding in cleft lip and palate treatment
  150. Control scheme selection in human-machine- interfaces by analysis of activity signals
  151. Event-based sampling for reducing communication load in realtime human motion analysis by wireless inertial sensor networks
  152. Automatic pairing of inertial sensors to lower limb segments – a plug-and-play approach
  153. Contactless respiratory monitoring system for magnetic resonance imaging applications using a laser range sensor
  154. Interactive monitoring system for visual respiratory biofeedback
  155. Development of a low-cost senor based aid for visually impaired people
  156. Patient assistive system for the shoulder joint
  157. A passive beating heart setup for interventional cardiology training
Heruntergeladen am 11.9.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/cdbme-2016-0147/html
Button zum nach oben scrollen