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Synchronization and rhythmic processes in physiology

Nature volume 410, pages 277–284 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Complex bodily rhythms are ubiquitous in living organisms. These rhythms arise from stochastic, nonlinear biological mechanisms interacting with a fluctuating environment. Disease often leads to alterations from normal to pathological rhythm. Fundamental questions concerning the dynamics of these rhythmic processes abound. For example, what is the origin of physiological rhythms? How do the rhythms interact with each other and the external environment? Can we decode the fluctuations in physiological rhythms to better diagnose human disease? And can we develop better methods to control pathological rhythms? Mathematical and physical techniques combined with physiological and medical studies are addressing these questions and are transforming our understanding of the rhythms of life.

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Figure 1: Representative physiological time series.
Figure 2: Schematic diagram showing dynamics in ionic channels that deactivate by a Poisson process (based on an analysis of dynamics observed in acetylcholine channels13).
Figure 3: Integrate and fire model and locking zones.
Figure 4: Poincaré oscillator model and locking zones.
Figure 5: Schematic representation of a noisy, leaky integrate and fire model with three levels of noise.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to M. R. Guevara, A. L. Goldberger, J. J. Collins, J. Milton and E. Cooper for helpful conversations; J. Lacuna, Y. Nagai and T. Inoue for assistance with the figures; and J. Gallas (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brasil) for providing the colour representations of the locking zones in Figs 3c and 4c. My research has been supported by NSERC, MRC, MITACS, Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation, FCAR and the Research Resource for Complex Physiologic Signals (NIH).

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  1. Department of Physiology, Centre for Nonlinear Dynamics in Physiology and Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, H3G 1Y6, Quebec, Canada

    Leon Glass

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Glass, L. Synchronization and rhythmic processes in physiology. Nature 410, 277–284 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35065745

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