title: Universal scaling law of electrical turbulence in the mammalian heart.
abstract: Many biological processes, such as metabolic rate and life span, scale with body mass (BM) according to the universal law of allometric scaling: Y = aBM(b) (Y, biological process; b, scaling exponent). We investigated whether the temporal properties of ventricular fibrillation (VF), the major cause of sudden and unexpected cardiac death, scale with BM. By using high-resolution optical mapping, numerical simulations and metaanalysis of VF data in 11 mammalian species, we demonstrate that the interbeat interval of VF scales as VF(cycle) (length) = 53 x BM(1/4), spanning more than four orders of magnitude in BM from mouse to horse.
authors: Department of Pharmacology and Institute for Cardiovascular Research, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA.
authors: Sami F
authors: SF
authors: Noujaim
authors: Omer
authors: O
authors: Berenfeld
authors: Jérôme
authors: J
authors: Kalifa
authors: Marina
authors: M
authors: Cerrone
authors: Kumaraswamy
authors: K
authors: Nanthakumar
authors: Felipe
authors: F
authors: Atienza
authors: Javier
authors: J
authors: Moreno
authors: Sergey
authors: S
authors: Mironov
authors: José
authors: J
authors: Jalife
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004560:Electricity; D004562:Electrocardiography; D017709:Fractals; D006321:Heart / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D006329:Heart Conduction System / Q000502:physiology*; D006736:Horses; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008954:Models, Biological; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D049490:Systems Biology; D013997:Time Factors; D014693:Ventricular Fibrillation