A Simulation System for Computational Cell Models Based on Object-Oriented Design Patterns

Reconstruction of biophysically detailed computer models for simulating electrical activities of heart cells provides a powerful tool to systematically investigate the ionic mechanisms underlying the genesis and control of cardiac rhythms. However, the fact that there is no unified or standard architecture for computational cell models, which were built by different research groups with specific purposes, obstructed profound applications of these models. In this study, we employed object-oriented design patterns to redesign and reconstitute the cell models and provided a more flexible, portable, and expansible infrastructure for modeling computational cell models. Meanwhile, using the proposed methods, a simulation platform has been developed for electrical activities of cell models with aims to offer a user-friendly interface to study the electrical activities of cardiac cells under various physiological and pathological conditions. Both the proposed design methods and the developed system were validated and effective by testing several typical cell models.