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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 14: Joint focus session: Nonlinear Dynamics of the Heart

DY 14.4: Hauptvortrag

Mittwoch, 28. März 2012, 11:00–11:30, MA 001

Mechanisms for calcium alternans — •Blas Echebarria, Enric Alvarez-Lacalle, Carlos Lugo, Angelina Peñaranda, and Inma R. Cantalapiedra — Departament de Física Aplicada, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 44-50 Av. Dr. Marañón, 08028 Barcelona, Spain

Alternans is a well-known cardiac pathology, in which the duration of the action potential (AP) alternates at consecutive beats. Due to its proarrhythmic effects it is important to understand the mechanisms underlying its genesis. It has been amply studied the case where alternans appears due to a steep relationship between the duration of an action potential and the time elapsed since the end of the previous AP. However, now it is widely accepted that alternans often appears due to instabilities in the dynamics of intracellular calcium cycling (itself an important messenger for the contraction of the cell). This instability can be due to a steep relationship between the amount of calcium released to the cytosol, and the calcium loading of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR), but also due to a slow recovery of the channels that regulate the release from the SR.