Figure 4

Propagation of cardiac APs simulated by PSpice through the 10 × 10 network when there were 100 transverse gj-channels in each of the nine transverse junctions. The transversely oriented gap junctions were located between the following cells: A10-B10, B1-C1, C10-D10, D1-E1, E10-F10, F1-G1, G10-H10, H1-I1 and I10-J10. The 4 panels illustrate the effect of varying the number of longitudinal gj-channels in each of the 10 parallel chains from 0 (panel A) to 10 (B), 100 (C) and 1000 (D). When there were many longitudinal gj-channels (e.g., 1,000, panel D), the APs of all 10 cells in each chain were superimposed, indicating that all 10 cells of each chain fired simultaneously. Hence, only 10 traces are evident. Thus, when the number of transverse gj-channels was substantial (e.g., 100), the overall TPT was markedly decreased when the number of longitudinal channels was increased.