Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Multiarm spirals in a two-dimensional cardiac substrate.

Nenad Bursac1, Felipe Aguel, Leslie Tung

  • 1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|October 20, 2004
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

RYR1<sup>+</sup> skeletal muscle-derived extracellular vesicles are exercise responsive and associated with insulin action.

Journal of translational medicine·2026
Same author

Long-term editing of brain circuits using an engineered electrical synapse.

Nature·2026
Same author

Experimental Platform for Screening and Validation of BacNa<sub>v</sub> Gene Therapy Candidates.

Circulation. Arrhythmia and electrophysiology·2026
Same author

D801N in ATP1A3-encoded Na/K-ATPase alpha 3 causes cardiac arrhythmogenesis through sodium-calcium exchanger-mediated calcium overload.

JCI insight·2026
Same author

Regulation of sodium/calcium homeostasis by BacNa<sub>v</sub> gene therapy rescues cardiac dysfunction in chronic heart failure.

Science advances·2026
Same author

Crossbow Bioreactors for Studying the Effects of Time-Varying Mechanical Preload and Afterload on Engineered Cardiac Tissues.

Advanced functional materials·2026

Researchers induced stable multiarm spirals in heart cells, unlike single-arm spirals previously observed. This finding may explain accelerated heart rhythms and offers new insights into cardiac arrhythmias.

Area of Science:

  • Nonlinear dynamics
  • Cardiac electrophysiology
  • Excitable media

Background:

  • Living tissues can exhibit self-organized waves, such as single-arm spirals in heart tissue, linked to cardiac arrhythmias.
  • Stable multiarm spirals have not been previously demonstrated in living excitable tissues.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the induction and behavior of stable multiarm spirals in neonatal rat heart cell cultures.
  • To explore the potential mechanisms underlying cardiac arrhythmias related to spiral wave activity.

Main Methods:

  • Induction of multiarm spirals using a rapid train of electrical point stimuli during single-arm spiral activity.
  • Utilized monolayer cultures of neonatal rat heart cells.
  • Analyzed spiral wave behavior, including arm-switching and tip-switching phenomena.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Successfully induced persistent multiarm spirals in heart cell cultures under specific conditions.
  • Stable multiarm spiral formation was dependent on the rate-dependence of impulse wavelength and propagation velocity.
  • Observed accelerated wave emission rates and distinct behaviors (arm-switching, tip-switching) in multiarm spirals compared to single-arm spirals.

Conclusions:

  • Demonstrated the first stable formation of multiarm spirals in living excitable tissue.
  • Multiarm spirals exhibit unique dynamic behaviors and faster wave emission rates.
  • The rate acceleration phenomenon may be relevant to understanding accelerated functional reentrant tachycardias.