title: Simulation of a plane wavefront propagating in cardiac tissue using a cellular automata model.
abstract: We present a detailed description of a cellular automata model for the propagation of action potential in a planar cardiac tissue, which is very fast and easy to use. The model incorporates anisotropy in the electrical conductivity and a spatial variation of the refractory time. The transmembrane potential distribution is directly derived from the cell states, and the intracellular and extracellular potential distributions are calculated for the particular case of a plane wavefront. Once the potential distributions are known, the associated current densities are calculated by Ohm's law, and the magnetic field is determined at a plane parallel to the cardiac tissue by applying the law of Biot and Savart. The results obtained for propagation speed and for magnetic field amplitude with the cellular automata model are compared with values predicted by the bidomain formulation, for various angles between wavefront propagation and fibre direction, characterizing excellent agreement between the models.
authors.affiliation: Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, Rua Marquês de São Vicente, 225, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 22453-900, Brazil. hall@ele.puc-rio.br
authors.forename: Carlos R Hall
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Barbosa
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D002450:Cell Communication / Q000502:physiology; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006329:Heart Conduction System / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D008959:Models, Neurological; D032342:Muscle Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology