1. Modeling excitable systems: reentrant tachycardia
- Author
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Lancaster, Jarrett L., Hellen, Edward H., and Leise, Esther M.
- Subjects
Tachycardia -- Models ,Tachycardia -- Observations ,Excitation (Physiology) -- Observations ,Excitation (Physiology) -- Models ,Physics - 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. [c] 2010 American Association of Physics Teachers. [DOI: 10.1119/1.3246868]
- Published
- 2010
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