title: Controlling cardiac chaos.
abstract: The extreme sensitivity to initial conditions that chaotic systems display makes them unstable and unpredictable. Yet that same sensitivity also makes them highly susceptible to control, provided that the developing chaos can be analyzed in real time and that analysis is then used to make small control interventions. This strategy has been used here to stabilize cardiac arrhythmias induced by the drug ouabain in rabbit ventricle. By administering electrical stimuli to the heart at irregular times determined by chaos theory, the arrhythmia was converted to periodic beating.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiological Science, University of California, Los Angeles 90024-1527.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Garfinkel
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Spano
authors.forename: W L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Ditto
authors.forename: J N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Weiss
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002118:Calcium / Q000502:physiology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004599:Electric Stimulation Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D004594:Electrophysiology; D004837:Epinephrine; D006321:Heart / Q000503:physiopathology; D006339:Heart Rate; D010042:Ouabain; D011817:Rabbits
chemical_list: D010042:Ouabain; D002118:Calcium; D004837:Epinephrine