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The dynamics of sustained reentry in a ring model of cardiac tissue

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Abstract

This paper describes the dynamics of circus movement around a fixed obstacle, using a one-dimensional continuous and uniform ring model of cardiac tissue to simulate sustained reentry. The membrane ionic current is simulated by a modified Beeler-Reuter formulation in which the kinetics of the fast sodium current were updated using more recent voltageclamp data. Changes in the ring length are used to modify the dynamics of reentry. Reentry is stable if the ring length (X) exceeds a critical value (X crit) and complete block occurs ifX is below a minimum (X min). Irregular sustained reentry is observed at intermediate ring lengths, as a narrow range of aperiodic reentry nearX crit, and a larger range of quasi-periodic reentry at shorter ring lengths. The basic pattern of irregular reentry is an alternation between long and short cycle length, action potential duration (APD), diastolic interval (DIA), wavelength, and excitable gap. In aperiodic reentry cycle length variations are small,APD andDIA fluctuations are of medium amplitude, and conduction velocity over the whole pathway is essentially constant during successive turns. Much larger fluctuations in these various quantities occur during quasi-periodic reentry, and they increase in size asX approachesX min. The complexity of quasiperiodic reentry patterns is related to three factors: the slope of theAPD versus DIA relation, which is greater than 1, the existence of a zone of slow conduction on the ring when the excitable gap becomes quite short, and the occurrence of triggered waves of secondary repolarization and excitability recovery. In the present model, quasi-periodic reentry with triggered secondary recovery covers most of the range of ring lengths, giving rise to sustained irregular reentry. There is very close agreement between our simulation results and experimental data obtained on rings of cardiac tissue.

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  1. Institute of Biomedical Engineering, École Polytechnique and Université de Montréal, Station Centreville, P.O. Box 6128, H3C 3J7, Montréal, Québec, Canada

    A. Vinet & F. A. Roberge

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  1. A. Vinet
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  2. F. A. Roberge
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Vinet, A., Roberge, F.A. The dynamics of sustained reentry in a ring model of cardiac tissue. Ann Biomed Eng 22, 568–591 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02368285

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