title: Role of temperature on nonlinear cardiac dynamics.
abstract: Thermal effects affecting spatiotemporal behavior of cardiac tissue are discussed by relating temperature variations to proarrhythmic dynamics in the heart. By introducing a thermoelectric coupling in a minimal model of cardiac tissue, we are able to reproduce experimentally measured dynamics obtained simultaneously from epicardial and endocardial canine right ventricles at different temperatures. A quantitative description of emergent proarrhythmic properties of restitution, conduction velocity, and alternans regimes as a function of temperature is presented. Complex discordant alternans patterns that enhance tissue dispersion consisting of one wave front and three wave backs are described in both simulations and experiments. Possible implications for model generalization are finally discussed.
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA.
authors.forename: Flavio H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Fenton
authors.forename: Alessio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gizzi
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cherubini
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pomella
authors.forename: Simonetta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Filippi
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D004285:Dogs; D006321:Heart / Q000502:physiology*; D006329:Heart Conduction System / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D009206:Myocardium / Q000166:cytology; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D013696:Temperature