Reaction-diffusion systems for the macroscopic bidomain model of the cardiac electric field

The paper deals with a mathematical model for the electric activity of the heart at the macroscopic level. The membrane model used to describe the ionic currents is a generalization of the phase-I Luo-Rudy, a model widely used in 2-D and 3-D simulations of the propagation of the action potential. From the mathematical viewpoint the model is made up of a degenerate parabolic reaction diffusion system coupled with an ODE system. We derive existence, uniqueness and some regularity results. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.