Effects of Calcium-Channel Noise on Dynamics of Excitation-Contraction Coupling in Paced Cardiac Cells

Abstract

We study a simple discrete model with the impact of calcium-channel noise on the beat-to-beat dynamics of cardiac cells. The effects of the noise are assessed by bifurcation analysis and power spectrum analysis, respectively. It is shown that this model can undergo period-doubling bifurcation and Hopf bifurcation if there are not random perturbations. Under random perturbations, the period-doubling bifurcations of the model can be observed, and the invariant curve from Hopf bifurcation is perturbed to an annulus on the plane and then becomes a totally disordered and randomly scattered region. By the power spectrum analysis, we find that the existence of high-frequency peak in the power spectra links to the period-doubling orbits, while the existence of low-frequency peak corresponds to quasiperiodic orbit.