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A multiphysics approach for modeling early atherosclerosis

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Abstract

This work is devoted to the development of a mathematical model of the early stages of atherosclerosis incorporating processes of all time scales of the disease and to show their interactions. The cardiovascular mechanics is modeled by a fluid–structure interaction approach coupling a non-Newtonian fluid to a hyperelastic solid undergoing anisotropic growth and a change of its constitutive equation. Additionally, the transport of low-density lipoproteins and its penetration through the endothelium is considered by a coupled set of advection–diffusion-reaction equations. Thereby, the permeability of the endothelium is wall-shear stress modulated resulting in a locally varying accumulation of foam cells triggering a novel growth and remodeling formulation. The model is calibrated and applied to an murine-specific case study, and a qualitative validation of the computational results is performed. The model is utilized to further investigate the influence of the pulsatile blood flow and the compliance of the artery wall to the atherosclerotic process. The computational results imply that the pulsatile blood flow is crucial, whereas the compliance of the aorta has only a minor influence on atherosclerosis. Further, it is shown that the novel model is capable to produce a narrowing of the vessel lumen inducing an adaption of the endothelial permeability pattern.

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Notes

  1. Wall-shear stresses is the established name even though wall-shear tractions would be more accurate

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support given by the International Graduate School of Science and Engineering of the Technical University of Munich under the project BioMat01, A Multiscale Model of Atherosclerosis. This work was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in the framework of the Open Access Publishing Program.

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  1. M. Mayr

    Present address: Sandia National Laboratories, 7011 East Avenue, MS 9158, Livermore, CA, 94550, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mechanics and High Performance Computing Group, Technical University of Munich, Parkring 35, 85748, Garching bei München, Germany

    M. P. Thon, A. Hemmler, M. Mayr & M. W. Gee

  2. Department of Radiology, Technical University of Munich, Ismaningerstraße 22, 81675, Munich, Germany

    A. Glinzer & M. Wildgruber

  3. Translational Research Imaging Center, Westfälische Wilhelms Universität Münster, Albert-Schweitzer-Campus 1, 48149, Munster, Germany

    M. Wildgruber

  4. Institute of Experimental Biomedicine, University Hospital Würzburg, Josef-Schneider-Straße 2, 97080, Würzburg, Germany

    A. Zernecke-Madsen

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Thon, M.P., Hemmler, A., Glinzer, A. et al. A multiphysics approach for modeling early atherosclerosis. Biomech Model Mechanobiol 17, 617–644 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10237-017-0982-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10237-017-0982-7

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