Analysis of periodic oscillations of APDs in reaction diffusion waves with nonlinear diffusion in tissues with peripheral nerve injury (PNI)

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Olumide T. Oni (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Joseph Starobin

Abstract: Millions of people suffer from peripheral nerve injury every year. Previous works have predominantly focused on surgical means of injury treatment without sufficient attention to studying distinct mechanisms of electrical conduction in small peripheral nerves. In this study, we examined the effects of nonlinear diffusion on wave propagation generated in normal and injured (with altered electrical conduction) peripheral nerves using one-dimensional Fitzhugh-Nagumo model. We modified this model by adding an additional power function type nonlinear diffusion term to account for fundamental changes in charge balance in excitable cells of small peripheral nerves. It was found that nonlinear diffusion played a critical role in stabilization of action potential propagation in healthy and injured peripheral nerves. In addition, it was observed that conditions for stable propagation of action potential in injured nerves significantly depended not only on the magnitude of nonlinear diffusion but also on location of zones of injury. These results may be helpful in elucidating physiological mechanisms of various electrical conduction pathologies which occur in injured peripheral nerves.

Additional Information

Publication
Dissertation
Language: English
Date: 2023
Keywords
Biophysics, Computational, Fitzhugh Nagumo, Model, Modeling, Nonlinear dynamics
Subjects
Nerves, Peripheral $x Wounds and injuries
Neural conduction $x Mathematical models
Action potentials (Electrophysiology) $x Mathematical models
Reaction-diffusion equations

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