The role of ephaptic coupling and gap junctional coupling in modulating the initiation and dynamics of reentrant arrhythmias

Cardiac myocytes synchronize through electrical signaling to contract heart muscles, facilitated by gap junctions (GJs) located in the intercalated disc (ID). GJs provide low-resistance pathways for electrical impulse propagation between myocytes, considered the primary mechanism for electrical communication in the heart. However, research indicates that conduction can persist without GJs. Ephaptic coupling (EpC), which depends on electrical fields in the narrow ID between adjacent myocytes, offers an alternative mechanism for cardiac conduction when GJs are impaired. Research suggests that EpC can enhance conduction velocity (CV) and reduce the likelihood of conduction block (CB), particularly when GJs are impaired, demonstrating the anti-arrhythmic potential of EpC. Reduced GJ communication increases the susceptibility of heart to arrhythmias due to ectopic or triggered activity, highlighting the pro-arrhythmic effect of GJ uncoupling. However, the interplay between GJs and EpC, and their roles in the initiation, dynamics, and termination of arrhythmias, remain unclear. Reentry, characterized by a loop of electrical activity, is a common mechanism underlying arrhythmogenesis in the heart. This study aims to explore the interplay between EpC and GJs on reentry initiation and its underlying dynamics. Specifically, we employed a two-dimensional (2D) discrete bidomain model that integrates EpC to simulate ephaptic conduction during reentry. We quantitatively assessed the outcomes of reentry initiation and the resulting dynamics across different levels of EpC, GJs, and initial perturbations. The results show that sufficiently strong EpC (i.e., sufficiently narrow clefts) tends to suppress reentry initiation, resulting in absent or non-sustained reentrant activity, while also introducing transient instability and heterogeneity into the cardiac dynamics. In contrast, relatively weak EpC (wide clefts) support sustained reentry with a stable rotor. Furthermore, we found that sufficiently strong EpC can lower the maximal dominant frequency observed during reentrant activity. Overall, this suggests that strong EpC exerts an anti-arrhythmic effect.