Temperature, geometry, and bifurcations in the numerical modeling of the cardiac mechano-electric feedback

This article characterizes the cardiac autonomous electrical activity induced by the mechanical deformations in the cardiac tissue through the mechano-electric feedback. A simplified and qualitative model is used to describe the system and we also account for temperature effects. The analysis emphasizes a very rich dynamics for the system, with periodic solutions, alternans, chaotic behaviors, etc. The possibility of self-sustained oscillations is analyzed in detail, particularly in terms of the values of important parameters such as the dimension of the system and the importance of the stretch-activated currents. It is also shown that high temperatures notably increase the parameter ranges for which self-sustained oscillations are observed and that several attractors can appear, depending on the location of the initial excitation of the system. Finally, the instability mechanisms by which the periodic solutions are destabilized have been studied by a Floquet analysis, which has revealed period-doubling phenomena and transient intermittencies.