Experimental study and modelling the evolution of viscoelastic hysteresis loop at different frequencies in myocardial tissue

Our work involved experimental study of the influence of actomyosin complexes and the main structural components of the myocardial tissue – connective tissue collagen framework and cardiomyocytes – on the characteristics of viscoelastic hysteresis at different frequencies. In this paper a new method was introduced for the analysis of the viscoelastic characteristics of the force hysteresis in the isolated myocardial preparation for the assessment of mechanical energy expenditure in the tension-compression cycle. We established that basic myocardial structures have an impact on the to the characteristics of the viscoelastic hysteresis in many ways. It was shown that in rat’s myocardium cardiomyocytes one main factor that define the stiffness and viscosity of the myocardium in the physiological range of deformations, while binding of calcium ions with EGTA and calcium removal of sarcoplasmic reticulum with caffeine reduces viscoelasticity by ~30% and collagen framework is responsible for about 10% of viscoelasticity. It was revealed that in the physiological range of the hysteresis frequencies (3 to 7 Hz) expenditure of mechanical energy per unit of time increases linearly with increasing frequency. We proposed the structural and functional model that adequately describes the characteristics of the viscoelastic hysteresis in myocardial preparation in the range of strains and frequencies being under study.