A nonlinear dynamical systems analysis demonstrates that rapid activation in one-dimensional cardiac fibers can lead to dynamical heterogeneity and conduction block, potentially explaining spiral wave initiation.
May inform arrhythmia models; leaves open translation from 1D fibers to human arrhythmias.
We present a nonlinear dynamical systems analysis of the transition to conduction block in one-dimensional cardiac fibers. We study a simple model of wave propagation in heart tissue that depends only on the recovery of action potential duration and conduction velocity. If the recovery function has slope >or=1 and the velocity recovery function is nonconstant, rapid activation causes dynamical heterogeneity and finally conduction block away from the activation site. This dynamical mechanism may play a role in the initiation and breakup of spiral waves in excitable media.
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Fox et al. (2002) studied this question.
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