Universal mechanisms for self-termination of rapid cardiac rhythm

Year: 2020

Authors: Biasci V., Sacconi L., Cytrynbaum EN., Pijnappels DA., De Coster T., Shrier A., Glass L., Bub G.

Autors Affiliation: Univ Florence, Dept Expt & Clin Med, Div Physiol, I-50134 Florence, Italy; CNR, Natl Inst Opt, I-50125 Florence, Italy; Univ Freiburg, Inst Expt Cardiovasc Med, Freiburg, Germany; Univ British Columbia, Dept Math, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2, Canada; Leiden Univ, Dept Cardiol, Med Ctr, Albinusdreef 2, NL-2333 ZA Leiden, Netherlands; McGill Univ, Dept Physiol, 3655 Promenade Sir William Osler, Montreal, PQ H3G 1Y6, Canada; European Lab Nonlinear Spect, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, FI, Italy.

Abstract: Excitable media sustain circulating waves. In the heart, sustained circulating waves can lead to serious impairment or even death. To investigate factors affecting the stability of such waves, we have used optogenetic techniques to stimulate a region at the apex of a mouse heart at a fixed delay after the detection of excitation at the base of the heart. For long delays, rapid circulating rhythms can be sustained, whereas for shorter delays, there are paroxysmal bursts of activity that start and stop spontaneously. By considering the dependence of the action potential and conduction velocity on the preceding recovery time using restitution curves, as well as the reduced excitability (fatigue) due to the rapid excitation, we model prominent features of the dynamics including alternation of the duration of the excited phases and conduction times, as well as termination of the bursts for short delays. We propose that this illustrates universal mechanisms that exist in biological systems for the self-termination of such activities.

Journal/Review: CHAOS

Volume: 30 (12)      Pages from: 121107-1  to: 121107-9

More Information: The authors thank Katharine Faulkner for useful conversations. L.S. acknowledges the EMBO for a short-term fellowship to visit the laboratory of G.B. L.G., G.B., and E.N.C. have benefited from funding from NSERC. A.S. acknowledges the CIHR (Grant No. #PJT-169008).
KeyWords: Atrioventricular Reentrant Tachycardia; Period-doubling Bifurcations; Action-potential Duration; Circus Movement; Ventricular-tachycardia; Accessory Pathway; Computer-model; Dynamics; Alternans; Suppression
DOI: 10.1063/5.0033813

Citations: 3
data from “WEB OF SCIENCE” (of Thomson Reuters) are update at: 2024-10-20
References taken from IsiWeb of Knowledge: (subscribers only)
Connecting to view paper tab on IsiWeb: Click here
Connecting to view citations from IsiWeb: Click here