Feedback Control of Bifurcations in Small Pieces of Rapidly-paced Cardiac Muscle

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The goal of this project is to develop strategies for controlling the dynamics of cardiac muscle using occasional, small perturbations. A simple test-bed, consisting of a small piece of periodically-paced bullfrog ventricle myocardium, is used in the work. The first phase of the program will be devoted to determining the dynamics of the rapidly-paced tissue. Experimental observations on the steady-state and restitution properties of the tissue, as well as the response of the tissue to extra electrical stimuli, will be compared to the predictions of an ionic-based mathematical model of the rapidly-paced tissue. The second phase of the program involves developing methods for stabilizing (destabilizing) the unstable (stable) states of the periodically-paced muscle and applying them to the test-bed. This award is jointly funded by the Division of Physics in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate and the Biomedical Engineering and Research to Aid Persons with Disabilities Program in the Directorate for Engineering.