The heart can be described as an electrically driven mechanical pump. This
pump couldn't adapt to beat-by-beat changes in circulatory demand if there
was no feedback from the mechanical environment to the electrical control
processes. Cardiac mechano-electric feedback has been studied at various
levels of functional integration, from stretch-activated ion channels,
through mechanically induced changes in cardiac cells and tissue, to
clinically relevant observations in man, where mechanical stimulation of the
heart may either disturb or reinstate cardiac rhythmicity. The seminar will
illustrate the patho-physiological relevance of cardiac mechano-electric
feedback, introduce underlying mechanisms, and show the utility of iterating
between experimental research and mathematical modelling in studying this
phenomenon.