Wave-block due to a threshold gradient underlies limited coordination in pancreatic islets.
Two models for coupled pancreatic beta cells are used to investigate excited wave propagation in spatially inhomogeneous islets of Langerhans. The application concerns spatial variation of glucose concentration across the islet. A comprehensive model of coupled cells shows that wave blocking occurs as the conductance of adenosine triphosphate regulated potassium channels increases, corresponding to spatially decreasing glucose concentration. A simplified model based on a perturbed version of Fisher's equation has been investigated using perturbation theory. We show that the perturbed Fisher's equation likewise can exhibit wave blocking.
Pedersen
Morten Gram
MG
Department of Information Engineering, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy.
Sørensen
Mads Peter
MP