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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 82 » Issue 17
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 3556–3559 (1999)

Emergence of Spontaneous Rhythm Disorders in Self-Assembled Networks of Heart Cells

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Yoav Soen, Netta Cohen, Doron Lipson, and Erez Braun
Department of Physics, Technion–Israel Institute of Technology, 32000 Haifa, Israel

Received 3 November 1998; published in the issue dated 26 April 1999

A noninvasive optical recording technique is introduced to study the spontaneous contractile activity in self-assembled heart cell networks. Continuous monitoring throughout the lifetime of the network reveals spontaneous appearance of various rhythm disorders. Analysis of two typical patterns, namely, subharmonic structures and sudden alternations between two dominant rates, indicates the emergence of intrinsic pacemakers. A model of one or two slightly variable nonlinear oscillators, acting on an excitable element, is shown to reproduce the main experimental results.

© 1999 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.82.3556
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.82.3556
PACS:
87.17.Nn, 05.45.Xt, 87.19.Ff
 
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