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A Statistical Analysis of Sequences of Cardiac Interbeat Intervals does not Support the Chaos Hypothesis

✍ Scribed by Gilles Le Pape; Hector Giacomini; Bernard Swynghedauw; Pascale Mansier


Book ID
102612128
Publisher
Elsevier Science
Year
1997
Tongue
English
Weight
278 KB
Volume
184
Category
Article
ISSN
0022-5193

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✦ Synopsis


Series of cardiac interbeat intervals were recorded in 34 mice and described using an original technique. The different intervals were divided into six classes according to their lengths. The different successions of pairs of intervals were counted with the help of a software programme devoted to lexical analysis. Most of the mice showed a very similar pattern of repeated sequences of interbeat intervals, statistically different from a random distribution. One-, two- or three-dimensional chaotic discrete maps were used to generate series that were then analyzed in the same way. They failed to give a distribution pattern of repeated sequences similar to the biological ones. On the contrary, series generated using a random component, and limited in amplitude by a feed-back correction occurring when the intervals reached a lower or an upper threshold, gave distributions of values very similar to biological ones. Moreover, the natural diversity observed between mice was easily reproduced by fluctuation of these different parameters. It is suggested that a very simple process, not completely deterministic, could better explain interbeat interval regulation in normal mice than did chaotic phenomena, which need complex biological processes.