title: Anomalous drift of spiral waves in heterogeneous excitable media.
abstract: We study the drift of spiral waves in a simple model of heterogeneous excitable medium, having gradients in the distribution of ion-channel expression or cellular coupling. We report the anomalous drift of spiral waves toward regions having shorter period or stronger coupling, in reaction-diffusion models of excitable media. Such anomalous drift can promote the onset of complex spatiotemporal patterns, e.g., those responsible for life-threatening arrhythmias in the heart.
authors.affiliation: The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, CIT Campus, Taramani, Chennai 600113, India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sridhar
authors.forename: Sitabhra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sinha
authors.forename: Alexander V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Panfilov
mesh_terms: D002468:Cell Physiological Phenomena; D004058:Diffusion; D055724:Electrophysiological Phenomena; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological
chemical_list: D007473:Ion Channels