Synergetics of Blood Movement Through Microvascular Networks: Causes and Consequences of Nonlinear Pressure-Flow Relationships

Abstract

The application of Haken’s concepts of synergetics to biological systems analysis is on its way [1-3]: on the macroscopic scale, the observation of non-equilibirum phase transitions in progressively driven systems testifies to the general applicability of his coherent interactionist theory. Multiple mutual functional links between various forms of energy conversion processes with high efficiency (see below) make the operation of synergetic principles very likely. However, skeptical and reductionist biologists are not necessarily a priori impressed by the derivation of biological synergetics from first physical principles (forcing them to follow a “top down analysis” which is not always transparent to them). The host of novel experimental tests in macroscopic biological system analysis cannot replace a much more thorough elaboration of the underlying mechanisms on the microscopic and on the microscopic level¹: in short, we need the bottom up approach.