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Updated: Sep 2, 2025

Microelectrode Array Recording of Sinoatrial Node Firing Rate to Identify Intrinsic Cardiac Pacemaking Defects in Mice
Published on: July 5, 2021
Kramers Rate Theory of Pacemaker Dynamics in Noisy Excitable Media
Zhaoyang Zhang1, Gang Hu2, Yuhao Zhang1
1Department of Physics, School of Physical Science and Technology, Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang 315211, China.
Abstract:
Rhythmic activities, which are usually driven by pacemakers, are common in biological systems. In noisy excitable media, pacemakers are self-organized firing clusters, but the underlying dynamics remains to be elucidated. Here we develop a Kramers rate theory of coupled cells to describe the firing properties of pacemakers and their dependence on coupling strength and system size and dimension. The theory captures accurately the simulation results of tissue models with stochastic Hodgkin-Huxley equations except when transitions from pacemakers to spiral waves occur under weak coupling.
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