Role of temperature on nonlinear cardiac dynamics
Flavio H. Fenton, Alessio Gizzi, Christian Cherubini, Nicola Pomella, and Simonetta Filippi
Accepted
Thermal effects affecting spatio-temporal behavior of cardiac tissue are discussed by relating temperature variations to pro-arrhythmic dynamics in the heart. By introducing a thermo-electric coupling in a minimal model of cardiac tissue, we are able to reproduce experimentally measured dynamics obtained simultaneously from epicardial and endocardial canine right ventricles at different temperatures. A quantitative description of emergent pro-arrhythmic properties of restitution, conduction velocity and alternans regimes as a function of temperature is presented. Complex discordant alternans patterns that enhance tissue dispersion consisting of one wave front and three wave backs are described in both simulations and experiments. Possible implications for model generalization are finally discussed.