Stochastic and spatial influences on drug-induced bifurcations in cardiac tissue culture.
The addition of a drug that specifically blocks a potassium channel in spontaneously beating aggregates of chick heart cells leads to complex bifurcations over time. A stochastic partial differential equation model based on discrete ionic currents recorded in these cells demonstrates that drug diffusion and noise can induce the coupled beats and bursting rhythms observed. These results provide further evidence that stochastic events at a subcellular level are needed to understand complex cardiac arrhythmias and play an important role in the onset of these arrhythmias.
Department of Physiology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Min-Young
MY
Kim
Martin
M
Aguilar
Alex
A
Hodge
Edward
E
Vigmond
Alvin
A
Shrier
Leon
L
Glass
D000818:Animals; D002642:Chick Embryo; D051638:Ether-A-Go-Go Potassium Channels / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors*; D006321:Heart / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology*; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D009206:Myocardium / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D013269:Stochastic Processes; D046509:Tissue Culture Techniques
D051638:Ether-A-Go-Go Potassium Channels