Fig 8. A small cluster of pacemaker cells can drive a prevalently dormant tissue.
(A-top) (A) In the random tissue configuration dormant and pacemaker cells are interspersed in the matrix. (A-bottom) In the cluster configuration pacemaker cells are confined to a small portion of the matrix surrounded by dormant cells. Here dormant cells are cells that fail to depolarize after inhibition of ICaL by 50%. (B) The range of intercellular coupling compatible with AP generation and entrainment, i.e. reduced percentage of dormant cells, is wider in the cluster tissue configuration compared to the random. Results shown here were obtained with Fabbri human model (σ equal to 0.1).