An organic artificial cardiomyocyte

Journal article

Advances in understanding biological excitability have driven both mathematical modeling and hardware emulation of action potential generation and propagation. While neuromorphic devices based on inorganic or organic systems have advanced rapidly, cardiomorphic hardware remains largely unexplored due to the complexity of reproducing multiple ionic dynamics and the temporal mismatch between the slow cardiac activity and the fast operation of solid-state electronics. Here, we present an organic electrochemical cardiomyocyte (OECM) in which ion-mediated channel currents exhibit time constants aligned with those of ventricular ionic processes. By reproducing a fast sodium current alongside slow, interdependent calcium and potassium currents, the OECM generates ventricular-like action potentials with biorealistic phases, displays refractoriness and responsiveness to electrical or chemical modulation, and synchronizes with bioelectric signals from living cardiomyocytes. These results shift the paradigm of cardiac modeling from purely computational simulations toward biorealistic hardware emulation.

Authors: Gao, D; Ji, J; De Prà, S; Xiong, M; Jin, W

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Nature Research
• Journal: Nature Communications
• Volume: 17
• Issue: 1
• Article number: 4181
• Publication date: 2026-05-06
• Acceptance date: 2026-04-21
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-72584-5
• EISSN: 2041-1723
• ISSN: 2041-1723
• Language: English
• Keywords: Emulation; Neuromorphic engineering; Refractory period; Cardiac electrophysiology; Action (physics); Memristor; Cardiac action potential; Ionic bonding; Potassium channel