Spiral-wave meandering in reaction–diffusion models of ventricular muscle

Reentrant arrhythmias in cardiac tissue can be idealised as spiral-wave solutions of reaction–diffusion equations of excitable media. The dynamical behaviour of such solutions depends on the properties of the excitable medium. Here we characterise the effects of model-parameter changes for ionic conductances and concentrations on the meandering patterns and dynamics of spiral waves in a model of mammalian ventricular tissue. A two-dimensional reaction–diffusion system with kinetics described by the Oxsoft® Heart equations for the single guinea-pig ventricular cell was used. We examine the development and stability of reentrant spiral-wave solutions as well as the effects of ionic conductance and concentration changes on spiral-wave meandering. Spiral-wave meandering behaviour provides a significant validation test for detailed biophysical models.