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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2025.07.07.663416

Wave propagation enhances extracellular signal strength in small excitable tissues

Jaeger, K. H.·Tveito, A.
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Abstract

Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) offer new opportunities to study cardiac dynamics and drug responses. High-throughput platforms often rely on extracellular potential (EP) recordings as a proxy for transmembrane voltage, making EP signal strength critical for analysis. EPs arise from spatial inhomogeneities - either intrinsic or induced by wave propagation. Using a computational model, we show that uniform simultaneous stimulation of all cells suppresses wave propagation and results in weak signals. In contrast, localized stimulation that initiates a traveling wave generates much stronger EPs, improving the robustness of biomarker extraction from extracellular recordings.

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Jaeger, K. H., Tveito, A.. 2025-07-10. Wave propagation enhances extracellular signal strength in small excitable tissues. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.07.07.663416

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