Effect of intercellular conductance and stimuli coupling interval on reentrant arrhythmia

Arrhythmia generation post ischemia has been linked to loss of cell-to-cell electrical interaction. Arrhythmias like ventricular fibrillation and tachycardia manifest as reentrant circuits at the tissue level. In this paper, a discrete venticular myocyte network of 100×100 cells interconnected using gap junction conductances is simulated along with an ischemic inclusion to study the wave patterns that arise from the ischemic zone due to varied coupling intervals of the stimulus. It is observed from the simulations that premature excitation of the tissue in presence of an ischemic zone can act as a substrate to induce sustained reentrant arrhythmias. Also, these reentrant wave patterns are generated only within a limited window of reduced coupling intervals.