Many biological processes, such as metabolic rate and life span, scale with body mass (BM) according to the universal law of allometric scaling: Y = aBM~b (Y, biological process; b, scaling exponent). We investigated whether the temporal properties of ventricular fibrillation (VF), the major cause of sudden and unexpected cardiac death, scale with BM. By using high-resolution optical mapping, numerical simulations and metaanalysis of VF data in 11 mammalian species, we demonstrate that the interbeat interval of VF scales as VF_(cycle length) = 53 × BM~(1/4), spanning more than four orders of magnitude in BM from mouse to horse.
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