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Sensitisation waves in a bidomain fire-diffuse-fire model of intracellular Ca²⁺ dynamics

Thul, Ruediger; Coombes, Stephen; Smith, G.D.

Authors

G.D. Smith



Abstract

We present a bidomain threshold model of intracellular calcium (Ca²⁺) dynamics in which, as suggested by recent experiments, the cytosolic threshold for Ca²⁺ liberation is modulated by the Ca²⁺ concentration in the releasing compartment. We explicitly construct stationary fronts and determine their stability using an Evans function approach. Our results show that a biologically motivated choice of a dynamic threshold, as opposed to a constant threshold, can pin stationary fronts that would otherwise be unstable. This illustrates a novel mechanism to stabilise pinned interfaces in continuous excitable systems. Our framework also allows us to compute travelling pulse solutions in closed form and systematically probe the wave speed as a function of physiologically important parameters. We find that the existence of travelling wave solutions depends on the time scale of the threshold dynamics, and that facilitating release by lowering the cytosolic threshold increases the wave speed. The construction of the Evans function for a travelling pulse shows that of the co-existing fast and slow solutions the slow one is always unstable.

Citation

Thul, R., Coombes, S., & Smith, G. (2009). Sensitisation waves in a bidomain fire-diffuse-fire model of intracellular Ca²⁺ dynamics. Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena, 238, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physd.2009.08.011

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Jan 1, 2009
Deposit Date Sep 2, 2009
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Physica D
Print ISSN 0167-2789
Electronic ISSN 0167-2789
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 238
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physd.2009.08.011
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1014927
Publisher URL http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/505714/description#description

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