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1998 New Zealand Mathematics Colloquium
July 6-9, 1998
Victoria University of Wellington
Wellington, New Zealand

Organizers
Peter Donelan, Chris Atkin, John Harper, Philip Rhodes-Robinson, Jim Neyland, Geoff Whittle, Steve White, Vladimir Pestov, Tom Crosby

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Spiral Breakup in a Calcium Wave Model
by
Andy Mckenzie
University of Canterbury
Coauthors: James Sneyd

We study spiral waves in a model of Ca2+ dynamics in the Xenopus laevis oocyte. Spiral wave solutions, both stable and unstable, were found to exist for this model. Waves in the model were initiated by simulating the release of a bolus of inositol 1, 4, 5-trisphosphate (IP3), a common experimental protocol. Increasing the size of the initial bolus caused the destabilisation of the spiral wave solutions, and a decrease in the rotation period. After the breakup of a spiral wave, irregular spatio-temporal patterns occurred, then pulsating patterns. In some cases spirals reformed after breaking up. Similar disorganised patterns are seen experimentally; based on our simulations we predict that such disorganisation may result from the initial experimental conditions. We describe an experiment that will test the model and the prediction.

Date received: May 21, 1998

Copyright © 1998 by the author(s). The author(s) of this document and the organizers of the conference have granted their consent to include this abstract in Atlas Conferences Inc. Document # cabd-17.