Stair-Like Frequency Response of Single Neuron to External Electromagnetic Radiation and Onset of Chaotic Behaviors

The nonlinear response of neuron firing under external electromagnetic radiation as well as transmembrane current, as two kinds of external forces, are studied in an improved Fitzhugh–Nagumo (FHN) model. The control effects of external forces to neuron firing are measured by winding number [Formula: see text] during mode transition of motion types. The phenomenon of match and mismatch between the angular frequency [Formula: see text] and the angular frequency of external forcing can be explained by whether the winding number is [Formula: see text] or not. [Formula: see text] remains as constants like [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], etc. The amplitude of transmembrane current [Formula: see text] is increased so that it distributes in a stair-like structure in parameter space before the system enters chaotic state when [Formula: see text] is large enough. The scenarios of motion type switching are different between and beyond in the stairs. Besides, the occurrence and the disappearance of chaos are accompanied with the destruction of the orbit with the variation of parameters which temporarily spoils the toroidal topology and induces chaotic oscillation. Indeed, nonlinear response to external forces is pivotal to neuron firing and its control.

ATP-Sensitive Potassium Channel Currents in Eccentrically Hypertrophied Cardiac Myocytes of Volume-Overloaded Rats

ATP-sensitive potassium channels (KATP) protect the myocardium from hypertrophy induced by pressure-overloading. In this study, we determined the effects of these channels in volume-overloading. We compared the effects of a KATPagonist and a KATPantagonist on sarcolemmal transmembrane current density (pA/pF) clamped at 20 mV increments of membrane potential from −80 to +40 mV in ventricular cardiac myocytes. The basal outward potassium pA/pF in myocytes of volume-overloaded animals was significantly smaller than that in the myocytes of sham-operated controls. Treatment of the control myocytes with the KATPagonist cromakalim increased pA/pF significantly. This increase was blocked by the KATPantagonist glibenclamide. Treatment of the hypertrophied myocytes from volume-overloaded animals with cromakalim and in the presence and absence of glibenclamide did not change pA/pF significantly. These findings suggest that eccentrically hypertrophied cardiac myocytes from volume-overloading may be unresponsive to specific activation/inactivation of KATPand that dysfunctional KATPmay fail to protect the myocardium from left ventricular hypertrophy associated with volume-overloading.

Measuring surface potential components necessary for transmembrane current computation using microfabricated arrays

This study was designed to test the feasibility of using microfabricated electrodes to record surface potentials with sufficiently fine spatial resolution to measure the potential gradients necessary for improved computation of transmembrane current density. To assess that feasibility, we recorded unipolar electrograms from perfused rabbit right ventricular free wall epicardium ( n = 6) using electrode arrays that included 25-μm sensors fabricated onto a flexible substrate with 75-μm interelectrode spacing. Electrode spacing was therefore on the size scale of an individual myocyte. Signal conditioning adjacent to the sensors to control lead noise was achieved by routing traces from the electrodes to the back side of the substrate where buffer amplifiers were located. For comparison, recordings were also made using arrays built from chloridized silver wire electrodes of either 50-μm (fine wire) or 250-μm (coarse wire) diameters. Electrode separations were necessarily wider than with microfabricated arrays. Comparable signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of 21.2 ± 2.2, 32.5 ± 4.1, and 22.9 ± 0.7 for electrograms recorded using microfabricated sensors ( n = 78), fine wires ( n = 78), and coarse wires ( n = 78), respectively, were found. High SNRs were maintained in bipolar electrograms assembled using spatial combinations of the unipolar electrograms necessary for the potential gradient measurements and in second-difference electrograms assembled using spatial combinations of the bipolar electrograms necessary for surface Laplacian (SL) measurements. Simulations incorporating a bidomain representation of tissue structure and a two-dimensional network of guinea pig myocytes prescribed following the Luo and Rudy dynamic membrane equations were completed using 12.5-μm spatial resolution to assess contributions of electrode spacing to the potential gradient and SL measurements. In those simulations, increases in electrode separation from 12.5 to 75.0, 237.5, and 875.0 μm, which were separations comparable to the finest available with our microfabricated, fine wire, and coarse wire arrays, led to 10%, 42%, and 81% reductions in maximum potential gradients and 33%, 76%, and 96% reductions in peak-to-peak SLs. Maintenance of comparable SNRs for source electrograms was therefore important because microfabrication provides a highly attractive methods to achieve spatial resolutions necessary for improved computation of transmembrane current density.