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arXiv · 0807.0451

Modeling Excitable Systems: Reentrant Tachycardia

Jarrett L. Lancaster·Esther M. Leise·Edward H. Hellen
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Abstract

Excitable membranes are an important type of nonlinear dynamical system and their study can be used to provide a connection between physical and biological circuits. We discuss two models of excitable membranes important in cardiac and neural tissues. One model is based on the Fitzhugh-Nagumo equations and the other is based on a three-transistor excitable circuit. We construct a circuit that simulates reentrant tachycardia and its treatment by surgical ablation. This project is appropriate for advanced undergraduates as a laboratory capstone project, or as a senior thesis or honors project, and can also be a collaborative project, with one student responsible for the computational predictions and another for the circuit construction and measurements.

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Jarrett L. Lancaster, Esther M. Leise, Edward H. Hellen. 2008-07-02. Modeling Excitable Systems: Reentrant Tachycardia. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.3246868

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