Modelling calcium microdomains using homogenisation

Using the homogenisation approach we developed in an earlier paper [Goel, P., Friedman, A., Sneyd, J., 2006. Homogenization of the cell cytoplasm: the calcium bidomain equations. SIAM J. Multiscale Modeling Simulation, in press] we show how a multiscale model of a calcium microdomain can be constructed. In this model a detailed model of the microdomain (in which the ER and the cytoplasm are separate compartments) is coupled to a homogenised model of the entire cell in a rigorous way. Our method is illustrated by a simple model of the diadic cleft of a cardiac half-sarcomere.