Standing excitation waves in the heart induced by strong alternating electric fields - art. no. 168104

We studied the effect of sinusoidal electric fields on cardiac tissue both experimentally and numerically. We found that periodic forcing at 5-20 Hz u sing voltage applied in the bathing solution could stop the propagation of excitation waves by producing standing waves of membrane depolarization. Th ese patterns were independent of the driving frequency in contrast to class ical standing waves. The stimulus strength required for pattern formation w as large compared to the excitation threshold. A novel tridomain representa tion of cardiac tissue was required to reproduce this behavior numerically.