Monodomain shear wave propagation and bidomain shear wave dispersion in an elastic model of cardiac tissue.

(Received 24 July 2012; published 4 February 2013)Cardiac tissue elastically deforms under an applied stress, permitting shear waves to propagate through theheart. Traditionally, this behavior has been modeled with a monodomain approach, in which the mechanicalpropertiesoftheintracellularandextracellularspacesareaveragedtogether.Weconsideramechanicalbidomainmodel of cardiac tissue in which the mechanics of the intracellular and extracellular spaces are consideredindividually with the two spaces coupled by a spring constant. We find two normal modes of oscillation: one inwhich the intracellular and extracellular spaces oscillate together (a monodomain mode) and the other in whichthey oscillate in opposition (a bidomain mode). These two modes have unique dispersion relationships. In theextremeapproximationofequalshearmoduliandmassdensitiesoftheintracellularandextracellularspaces,thedispersion in the bidomain mode depends on the spring constant, while it does not in the monodomain mode.DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.87.024701 PACS number(s): 87