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Flow dynamics analyses of pathophysiological liver lobules using porous media theory

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Abstract

Blood flow inside the liver plays a key role in hepatic functions, and abnormal hemodynamics are highly correlated with liver diseases. To date, the flow field in an elementary building block of the organ, the liver lobule, is difficult to determine experimentally in humans due to its complicated structure, with radially branched microvasculature and the technical difficulties that derive from its geometric constraints. Here we established a set of 3D computational models for a liver lobule using porous media theory and analyzed its flow dynamics in normal, fibrotic, and cirrhotic lobules. Our simulations indicated that those approximations of ordinary flow in portal tracts (PTs) and the central vein, and of porous media flow in the sinusoidal network, were reasonable only for normal or fibrotic lobules. Models modified with high resistance in PTs and collateral vessels inside sinusoids were able to describe the flow features in cirrhotic lobules. Pressures, average velocities, and volume flow rates were profiled and the predictions compared well with experimental data. This study furthered our understanding of the flow dynamics features of liver lobules and the differences among normal, fibrotic, and cirrhotic lobules.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 31230027, 91642203, and 31661143044) and the Frontier Science Key Project of Chinese Science Academy (Grant QYZDJ-SSW-JSC018).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center of Biomechanics and Bioengineering, Key Laboratory of Microgravity (National Microgravity Laboratory), Beijing Key Laboratory of Engineered Construction and Mechanobiology, Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Jinrong Hu, Shouqin Lü, Shiliang Feng & Mian Long

  2. School of Engineering Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Jinrong Hu, Shouqin Lü & Mian Long

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  1. Jinrong Hu
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  2. Shouqin Lü
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  3. Shiliang Feng
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  4. Mian Long
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Correspondence to Mian Long.

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Hu, J., Lü, S., Feng, S. et al. Flow dynamics analyses of pathophysiological liver lobules using porous media theory. Acta Mech. Sin. 33, 823–832 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10409-017-0674-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10409-017-0674-7

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