Cell-specific ionic models of cardiac pacemaker activity

We have developed a generic ionic model of single-cell rabbit sinoatrial node (SAN) electrical activity, employing Markov-state kinetics for membrane ionic currents. By suitable choice of parameters, the model is able to accurately reproduce a wide range of action potential waveforms recorded from individual SAN cells in the laboratory. Advantages of this approach include the ability to quantitatively investigate the contribution of ion currents underlying pacemaker and action potential activity from any given SAN myocyte recording.