The effect of cellular aging on the dynamics of spiral waves

Cellular aging can result in deterioration of electrical coupling, the extension of the action potential duration, and lower excitability of the cell. Those factors are introduced into the Greenberg–Hastings cellular automaton model and the effects of the cellular aging on the dynamics of spiral waves are studied. The numerical results show that a 50% reduction of the coupling strength of aging cells has a little influence on spiral waves. If the coupling strength of aging cells equals zero, the ability for the medium to maintain spiral waves will be reduced by approximately 50% when the aging cell ratio increases from 0 to 0.5, where the reduction of cell excitability plays a major role in inducing disappearance of spiral waves. When the relevant parameters are properly chosen, the cellular aging can lead to the meandering of spiral waves, the emergence of the binary spiral waves, and even the disappearance of spiral waves via the stopping rotation or shrinkage of wave. Physical mechanisms of the above phenomena are analyzed briefly.