Abstract
The propagation of fire-diffuse-fire Ca2+ waves through a three-dimensional rectangular domain is considered. The domain is infinite in extent in the direction of propagation but with lateral barriers to diffusion which contain Ca2+ pumps. The Ca2+ concentration profile due to the firing of a release site (spark) is derived analytically based on the Green’s function for the diffusion equation on the domain. The existence, stability and speed of these waves is shown to be critically dependent on the dimensions of the domain and the Ca2+ pump rate. It is shown that the smaller the dimensions of the region, the lower the Ca2+ release flux required for wave propagation, and the higher the wave speed. Also it is shown that the region may support multiple Ca2+ wavefronts of varying wave speed. This model is relevant to subsarcolemmal waves in atrial myocytes (Kockskämper et al., 2001, Biophys. J. 81, 2590–2605), and the results may be of importance in understanding the roles of the endoplasmic/sarcoplasmic reticulum, surface membranes and Ca2+ pumps in the intracellular Ca2+ dynamics of cells.
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Lemon, G. Fire-diffuse-fire calcium waves in confined intracellular spaces. Bull. Math. Biol. 66, 65–90 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1016/S0092-8240(03)00074-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0092-8240(03)00074-0