Chaos analysis of a drug induced cardiac tissue

Extremely complex frequency-dependent patterns of excitation and impulse propagation were observed in the cardiac tissue. The general response patterns of excitation include phase locking, period-doubling bifurcations and irregular activity. Such complex behavior can be analyzed using methods derived from chaos theory, which is concerned with the non-linear dynamics of deterministic systems that have irregular periodicity as well as exquisite sensitivity to initial conditions. We make use of some analytical techniques to explain this behavior. Change in cycle length alter the duration of the action potentials of cardiac cells. Consequently, the changes in cycle length are often important factors in the initiation or termination of certain arrhythmia's. A decrease in the cycle length induces chaotic behavior in the tissue. Drugs tend to change the ionic activity going on in the heart. While some drugs affect the behavior of the cardiac tissue, some cause severe arrhythmias resulting in the failure of the tissue to contract successfully. The study of these dynamics is of general application to the understanding of disordered phenomena, and may provide new insight about the origin of fatal cardiac arrhythmias.