Abstract
Sudden cardiac death is a major cause of death worldwide. In most cases, it's caused by abnormal action potential propagation that leads to cardiac arrhythmia. The aim of this article is to study the abnormal action potential propagation through sodium ion concentration variations. We use a new electrophysiological model that is both detailed and computationally efficient. This efficient model is based on the partial differential equation method. The central finite difference method is used for numerical solving of the two-dimensional (2D) wave propagation equation. Simulations are implemented in two stages, as a single cardiac cell and as a two-dimensional grid of cells. In both stages, the normal action potential formation in case of a single cell and it's normal propagation in case of a two-dimensional grid of cells were simulated with nominal sodium ion conductance. Then, the effect of sodium ion concentration on the action potential signal was studied by reducing the sodium ion conductance. It is concluded that reducing the sodium ion conductance, decreases both passing ability and conduction velocity of the action potential wave front.
Highlights
Information transmission in the form of propagating waves of electrical excitation is the fastest form of long-range internal communications available to living organisms
We initially show the effect of sodium ion conductance on the action potential amplitude in case of a single cell and we investigate this effect on both amplitude and conduction velocity(CV) of the action potential wave in a two-dimensional grid of cells
We investigated the effect of obstacles on the action potential propagation
Summary
Information transmission in the form of propagating waves of electrical excitation is the fastest form of long-range internal communications available to living organisms. The electrical waves initiate contractions of the cardiac muscle. Abnormal propagation of the electrical excitation wave has serious medical consequences. It is believed to be associated with epilepsy. Regarding the heart it leads to cardiac arrhythmia. Among the various types of cardiac arrhythmias, reentrant ventricular arrhythmia is considered the most dangerous. Reentrant arrhythmia which frequently occurs, is caused mainly due to abnormal reentrant propagation of excitation waves and is considered very dangerous too [1]
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