PHY 530, Bioelectric Phenomena

This week I finished up my PHY 530 class (Bioelectric Phenomena), which I discussed once before in this blog. Rather than adopting a textbook, I based this graduate class on a collection of scientific papers. Below I list the three dozen papers we studied. It should not be regarded as a “greatest hits” list. Some are Nobel Prize winning papers, but oftentimes I selected a lesser-known article that happened to cover a specific topic I wanted to teach. Many are cited in the 4th edition of Intermediate Physics for Medicine and Biology (indicated by a *). Students were assigned the 16 papers marked in bold: they had to take a quiz on each of these before we discussed them in class, and the exams often contained questions drawn directly from these papers. The other 20 articles are supplementary: consider them recommended reading, rather than required.

I had two goals in the class: to teach the basic elements of bioelectricity, and to lead a workshop on how to write a scientific paper. The students were given two projects (one was to simulate a squid nerve axon using the Hodgkin-Huxley model, and the other was to determine a dipole source from simulated EEG data) and had to write up their results in a brief (4 page maximum) paper having the classic structure: Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, References. We read essays related to writing scientific papers, such as "What's Wrong With These Equations?" and "Writing Physics," both by N. David Mermin, and learned to use the Science Citation Index. I am pleased with how the class went, and I hope the students were too.

1. A. L. Hodgkin and A. F. Huxley (1939) “Action Potentials Recorded from Inside a Nerve Fiber,” Nature, Volume 144, Pages 710–711. *

2. A. L. Hodgkin and B. Katz (1949) “The Effect of Sodium Ions on the Electrical Activity of the Giant Axon of the Squid,” Journal of Physiology, Volume 108, Pages 37–77.

3. A. L. Hodgkin and A. F. Huxley (1952) “A Quantitative Description of Membrane Current and its Application to Conduction and Excitation in Nerve,” Journal of Physiology, Volume 117, Pages 500–544. *

4. D. A. Doyle, J. M. Cabral, R. A. Pfuetzner, A. Kuo, J. M. Gulbis, S. L. Cohen, B. T. Chait, and R. MacKinnon (1998) “The Structure of the Potassium Channel: Molecular Basis of K+ Conduction and Selectivity,” Science, Volume 280, Pages 69–77. *

5. O. P. Hamill, A. Marty, E. Neher, B. Sakmann, and F. J. Sigworth (1981) “Improved Patch-Clamp Techniques for High-Resolution Current Recording From Cells and Cell-Free Membrane Patches,” Pflugers Archive, Volume 391, Pages 85–100. *

6. A. L. Hodgkin and W. A. H. Rushton (1946) “The Electrical Constants of a Crustacean Nerve Fibre,” Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B, Volume 133, Pages 444–479. *

7. W. A. H. Rushton (1951) “A Theory of the Effects of Fibre Size in Medullated Nerve,” Journal of Physiology, Volume 115, Pages 101–122. *

8. R. FitzHugh (1961) “Impulses and Physiological States in Theoretical Models of Nerve Membrane,” Biophysical Journal, Volume 1, Pages 445–466.

9. W. Rall (1962) “Theory of Physiological Properties of Dendrites,” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Volume 96, Pages 1071–1092.

10. F. Rattay (1989) “Analysis of Models for Extracellular Fiber Stimulation,” IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, Volume 36, Pages 676–682.

11. A. T. Barker, R. Jalimous, and I. L. Freeston (1985) “Non-Invasive Magnetic Stimulation of Human Motor Cortex,” Lancet, Volume 8437, Pages 1106–1107. *

12. M. Hallett and L. G. Cohen (1989) “Magnetism: A New Method for Stimulation of Nerve and Brain,” Journal of the American Medical Association, Volume 262, Pages 538–541. *

13. B. J. Roth, L. G. Cohen and M. Hallett (1991) “The Electric Field Induced During Magnetic Stimulation,” Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, Supplement 43, Pages 268–278.

14. R. Plonsey (1974) “The Active Fiber in a Volume Conductor,” IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, Volume 21, Pages 371–381.

15. B. J. Roth, D. Ko, I. R. von Albertini-Carletti, D. Scaffidi and S. Sato (1997) “Dipole Localization in Patients with Epilepsy Using the Realistically Shaped Head Model,” Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, Volume 102, Pages 159–166.

16. M. Schneider (1974) “Effect of Inhomogeneities on Surface Signals Coming From a Cerebral Current-Dipole Source,” IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, Volume 21, Pages 52–54.

17. B. J. Roth and J. P. Wikswo (1985) “The Magnetic Field of a Single Axon: A Comparison of Theory and Experiment,” Biophysical Journal, Volume 48, Pages 93–109. *

18. M. Hamalainen, R. Hari, R. J. Ilmoniemi, J. Knuutila, and O. V. Lounasmaa (1993) “Magnetoencephalography: Theory, Instrumentation, and Application to Noninvasive Studies of the Working Human Brain,” Reviews of Modern Physics, Volume 65, Pages 413–497. *

19. T.-K. Truong and A. W. Song (2006) “Finding Neuroelectric Activity Under Magnetic-Field Oscillations (NAMO) with Magnetic Resonance Imaging In Vivo,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 103, Pages 12598–12601.

20. B. J. Roth and P. J. Basser (2009) “Mechanical Model of Neural Tissue Displacement During Lorentz Effect Imaging,” Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, Volume 61, Pages 59–64.

21. A. T. Winfree (1987) When Time Breaks Down. Princeton Univ Press, Princeton, NJ, Pages 106–107. *

22. B. J. Roth (2002) “Virtual Electrodes Made Simple: A Cellular Excitable Medium Modified for Strong Electrical Stimuli,” The Online Journal of Cardiology, http://sprojects.mmi.mcgill.ca/heart/pages/rot/rothom.html

23. D. W. Frazier, P. D. Wolf, J. M. Wharton, A. S. L. Tang, W. M. Smith and R. E. Ideker (1989) “Stimulus-Induced Critical Point: Mechanism for Electrical Initiation of Reentry in Normal Canine Myocardium,” Journal of Clinical Investigation, Volume 83, Pages 1039–1052.

24. N. Shibata, P.-S. Chen, E. G. Dixon, P. D. Wolf, N. D. Danieley, W. M. Smith, and R. E. Ideker (1988) “Influence of Shock Strength and Timing on Induction of Ventricular Arrhythmias in Dogs,” American Journal of Physiology, Volume 255, Pages H891–H901.

25. J. N. Weiss, A. Garfinkel, H. S. Karagueuzian, Z. Qu and P.-S. Chen (1999) “Chaos and the Transition to Ventricular Fibrillation: A New Approach to Antiarrhythmic Drug Evaluation,” Circulation, Volume 99, Pages 2819–2826.

26. A. Garfinkel, Y.-H. Kim, O. Voroshilovsky, Z. Qu, J. R. Kil, M.-H. Lee, H. S. Karagueuzian, J. N. Weiss, and P.-S. Chen (2000) “Preventing Ventricular Fibrillation by Flattening Cardiac Restitution,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 97, Pages 6061–6066. *

27. N. G. Sepulveda, B. J. Roth and J. P. Wikswo, Jr. (1989) “Current Injection into a Two-Dimensional Anisotropic Bidomain,” Biophysical Journal, Volume 55, Pages 987–999. *

28. B. J. Roth (1992) “How the Anisotropy of the Intracellular and Extracellular Conductivities Influences Stimulation of Cardiac Muscle,” Journal of Mathematical Biology, Volume 30, Pages 633–646. *

29. Efimov I. R., Y. Cheng, D. R. Van Wagoner, T. Mazgalev, and P. J. Tchou (1998) “Virtual Electrode-Induced Phase Singularity: A Basic Mechanism of Defibrillation Failure,” Circulation Research, Volume 82, Pages 918–925.

30. Efimov, I. R., Y. N. Cheng, M. Biermann, D. R. Van Wagoner, T. N. Mazgalev, and P. J. Tchou (1997) “Transmembrane Voltage Changes Produced by Real and Virtual Electrodes During Monophasic Defibrillation Shock Delivered by an Implantable Electrode,” Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology, Volume 8, Pages 1031–1045.

31. Roth, B. J. (1995) “A Mathematical Model of Make and Break Electrical Stimulation of Cardiac Tissue Using a Unipolar Anode or Cathode,” IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, Volume 42, Pages 1174–1184.

32. Cheng, Y., V. Nikolski, and I. R. Efimov (2000) “Reversal of Repolarization Gradient Does Not Reverse the Chirality of the Shock-Induced Reentry in the Rabbit Heart,” Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology, Volume 11, Pages 998–1007.

33. Trayanova, N. A., B. J. Roth, and L. J. Malden (1993) “The Response of a Spherical Heart to a Uniform Electric Field: A Bidomain Analysis of Cardiac Stimulation,” IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, Volume 40, Pages 899–908.

34. Nielsen, P. M. F., I. J. Le Grice, B. H. Smaill, and P. J. Hunter (1991) “Mathematical Model of Geometry and Fibrous Structure of the Heart,” American Journal of Physiology, Volume 260, Pages H1365–H1378.

35. Krassowska, W., T. C. Pilkington, and R. E. Ideker (1987) “The Closed Form Solution to the Periodic Core-Conductor Model Using Asymptotic Analysis,” IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, Volume 34, Pages 519–531.

36. Rodriquez, B., J. C. Eason, and N. Trayanova (2006) “Differences Between Left and Right Ventricular Anatomy Determine the Types of Reentrant Circuits Induced by an External Electric Shock: A Rabbit Heart Simulation Study,” Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology, Volume 90, Pages 399–413.