Reentry in heterogeneous cardiac tissue described by the Luo-Rudy ventricular action potential model

Department of Theoretical Biology, Utrecht University, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands Heterogeneity of cardiac tissue is an important factor determining the initiation and dynamics of cardiac arrhythmias. In this paper, we studied the effects of gradients of electrophysiological heterogeneity on r...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology 2003-02, Vol.284 (2), p.H542-H548
Main Authors: Ten Tusscher, K. H. W. J, Panfilov, A. V
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Action Potentials
Arrhythmias, Cardiac - physiopathology
Computer Simulation
Electrophysiology
Heart - physiopathology
Humans
Models, Cardiovascular
Ventricular Function
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Summary:Department of Theoretical Biology, Utrecht University, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands Heterogeneity of cardiac tissue is an important factor determining the initiation and dynamics of cardiac arrhythmias. In this paper, we studied the effects of gradients of electrophysiological heterogeneity on reentrant excitation patterns using computer simulations. We investigated the dynamics of spiral waves in a two-dimensional sheet of cardiac tissue described by the Luo-Rudy phase 1 (LR1) ventricular action potential model. A gradient of action potential duration (APD) was imposed by gradually varying the local current density of K + current or inward rectifying K + current along one axis of the tissue sheet. We show that a gradient of APD resulted in spiral wave drift. This drift consisted of two components. The longitudinal (along the gradient) component was always directed toward regions of longer spiral wave period. The transverse (perpendicular to the gradient) component had a direction dependent on the direction of rotation of the spiral wave. We estimated the velocity of the drift as a function of the magnitude of the gradient and discuss its implications. ionic model; spiral wave; reentrant arrhythmias; tissue heterogeneity
ISSN:0363-6135
1522-1539
DOI:10.1152/ajpheart.00608.2002