Abstract
The development of new approaches to control cardiac arrhythmias requires a deep understanding of spiral wave dynamics. Optogenetics offers new possibilities for this. Preliminary experiments show that sub-threshold illumination affects electrical wave propagation in the mouse heart. However, a systematic exploration of these effects is technically challenging. Here, we use state-of-the-art computer models to study the dynamic control of spiral waves in a two-dimensional model of the adult mouse ventricle, using stationary and non-stationary patterns of sub-threshold illumination. Our results indicate a light-intensity-dependent increase in cellular resting membrane potentials, which together with diffusive cell-cell coupling leads to the development of spatial voltage gradients over differently illuminated areas. A spiral wave drifts along the positive gradient. These gradients can be strategically applied to ensure drift-induced termination of a spiral wave, both in optogenetics and in conventional methods of electrical defibrillation.
Highlights
Emergence of reentrant electrical activity, often in the form of spiral and scroll waves, is associated with the development of life-threatening heart rhythm disorders, known as cardiac arrhythmias (Krinski, 1968; Davidenko et al, 1990; Davidenko et al, 1992; Pertsov et al, 1993)
We use optogenetics at sub-threshold light intensity (LI) to investigate the possibility of controlling spiral wave dynamics in light-sensitive cardiac tissue
We begin with a study of the effect of uniform, global, constant sub-threshold illumination at different LI on the conduction velocity (CV) of plane propagating waves in a 2.5 cm Â0.25 cm pseudo domain
Summary
Emergence of reentrant electrical activity, often in the form of spiral and scroll waves, is associated with the development of life-threatening heart rhythm disorders, known as cardiac arrhythmias (Krinski, 1968; Davidenko et al, 1990; Davidenko et al, 1992; Pertsov et al, 1993). The state-of-the-art technique for controlling the dynamics of these abnormal waves involves global electrical synchronization.
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