Abstract
We studied the ionic basis of slow recovery of excitability and the rate-dependent activation failure in enzymatically dissociated guinea pig ventricular myocytes and in numerical simulations using a modified version of the Beeler and Reuter model. In addition, appropriate parameters derived from biological and numerical voltage and current clamp experiments were used to devise an analytical model for diastolic recovery of excitability on the basis of the equations for current distribution in a resistive-capacitive circuit. Iteration of the analytical model equations gave rise to dynamics that closely resembled the experimentally obtained phaselocking patterns for repetitive stimulation of the ventricular cell. The results strongly suggest that slow deactivation of the delayed rectifier current (iK) determines the time-dependent recovery of excitability during diastole while the inward rectifier (iK 1) determines the amplitude and shape of depolarizations within the subthreshold range. The kinetics and voltage-dependence of both currents are responsible for the development of rate-dependent phase-locking patterns and of Wenckebach periodicity in the ventricular myocyte.
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Jalife, J., Delmar, M. (1991). Ionic Basis of the Wenckebach Phenomenon. In: Glass, L., Hunter, P., McCulloch, A. (eds) Theory of Heart. Institute for Nonlinear Science. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3118-9_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3118-9_14
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