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- Title
Computational modeling of hypertensive growth in the human carotid artery.
- Authors
Sáez, Pablo; Peña, Estefania; Martínez, Miguel; Kuhl, Ellen
- Abstract
Arterial hypertension is a chronic medical condition associated with an elevated blood pressure. Chronic arterial hypertension initiates a series of events, which are known to collectively initiate arterial wall thickening. However, the correlation between macrostructural mechanical loading, microstructural cellular changes, and macrostructural adaptation remains unclear. Here, we present a microstructurally motivated computational model for chronic arterial hypertension through smooth muscle cell growth. To model growth, we adopt a classical concept based on the multiplicative decomposition of the deformation gradient into an elastic part and a growth part. Motivated by clinical observations, we assume that the driving force for growth is the stretch sensed by the smooth muscle cells. We embed our model into a finite element framework, where growth is stored locally as an internal variable. First, to demonstrate the features of our model, we investigate the effects of hypertensive growth in a real human carotid artery. Our results agree nicely with experimental data reported in the literature both qualitatively and quantitatively.
- Subjects
MATHEMATICAL models; CAROTID artery abnormalities; REGULATION of blood pressure; HYPERTENSION; MUSCLE cells; CELL growth; PHYSIOLOGY
- Publication
Computational Mechanics, 2014, Vol 53, Issue 6, p1183
- ISSN
0178-7675
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s00466-013-0959-z