Publication Date:
1994-11-11
Description:
Rotors or vortex action potentials with a diameter of about 1 centimeter and a rotation period of about 0.1 second occur in normal myocardium just before transition to fibrillation, a disorderly pattern of action potential propagation. Numerical models and corresponding mathematical analysis have recently suggested candidate mechanisms, all two-dimensional, for this transition from periodic electrical activity to something resembling turbulence. However, comparably recent experiments unanimously show that rotors, and the spiral waves they radiate, remain stably periodic in two-dimensional myocardium. This seeming paradox suggests a transition mediated through disorderly dynamics of the electrical vortex in three dimensions, as a "vortex filament."〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Winfree, A T -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 1994 Nov 11;266(5187):1003-6.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7973648" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Action Potentials
;
Animals
;
Atrial Function
;
Heart/*physiology
;
Humans
;
Mathematics
;
*Models, Cardiovascular
;
Ventricular Fibrillation/*physiopathology
;
*Ventricular Function
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
