• Rapid Communication

Spatiotemporal correlation uncovers characteristic lengths in cardiac tissue

Alessandro Loppini, Alessio Gizzi, Christian Cherubini, Elizabeth M. Cherry, Flavio H. Fenton, and Simonetta Filippi
Phys. Rev. E 100, 020201(R) – Published 16 August 2019
PDFHTMLExport Citation

Abstract

Complex spatiotemporal patterns of action potential duration have been shown to occur in many mammalian hearts due to period-doubling bifurcations that develop with increasing frequency of stimulation. Here, through high-resolution optical mapping experiments and mathematical modeling, we introduce a characteristic spatial length of cardiac activity in canine ventricular wedges via a spatiotemporal correlation analysis, at different stimulation frequencies and during fibrillation. We show that the characteristic length ranges from 40 to 20 cm during one-to-one responses and it decreases to a specific value of about 3 cm at the transition from period-doubling bifurcation to fibrillation. We further show that during fibrillation, the characteristic length is about 1 cm. Another significant outcome of our analysis is the finding of a constitutive phenomenological law obtained from a nonlinear fitting of experimental data which relates the conduction velocity restitution curve with the characteristic length of the system. The fractional exponent of 3/2 in our phenomenological law is in agreement with the domain size remapping required to reproduce experimental fibrillation dynamics within a realistic cardiac domain via accurate mathematical models.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 14 June 2018
  • Revised 5 June 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.100.020201

©2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Nonlinear DynamicsPhysics of Living Systems

Authors & Affiliations

Alessandro Loppini1, Alessio Gizzi1,*, Christian Cherubini1,2, Elizabeth M. Cherry3, Flavio H. Fenton4, and Simonetta Filippi1,2

  • 1Department of Engineering, Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome, Via A. del Portillo 21, I-00128 Rome, Italy
  • 2ICRANet, Piazza delle Repubblica 10, I-65122 Pescara, Italy
  • 3School of Mathematical Sciences, Rochester Institute of Technology, 85 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, New York 14623, USA
  • 4School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, 837 State Street, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA

  • *a.gizzi@unicampus.it

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

Supplemental Material (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 100, Iss. 2 — August 2019

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
CHORUS

Article Available via CHORUS

Download Accepted Manuscript
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review E

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×