Spatiotemporal dynamics of damped propagation in excitable cardiac tissue.
Compared to steadily propagating waves (SPW), damped waves (DW), another solution to the nonlinear wave equation, are seldom studied. In cardiac tissue after electrical stimulation in an SPW wake, we observe DW with diminished amplitude and velocity that either gradually decrease as the DW dies, or exhibit a sharp amplitude increase after a delay to become an SPW. The cardiac DW-SPW transition is a key link in understanding defibrillation and stimulation close to the refractory period, and is ideal for a general study of DW dynamics.
Sidorov
Veniamin Y
VY
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37235, USA.
Aliev
Rubin R
RR
Woods
Marcella C
MC
Baudenbacher
Franz
F
Baudenbacher
Petra
P
Wikswo
John P
JP
D000818:Animals; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D006321:Heart / Q000502:physiology*; D006329:Heart Conduction System / Q000502:physiology*; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008564:Membrane Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D009200:Myocardial Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D011817:Rabbits