Coupled agent-based and hyperelastic modelling of the left ventricle post-myocardial infarction
Authored by Xin Zhuan, Xiaoyu Luo, Hao Gao, Ray W Ogden
Date Published: 2019
DOI: 10.1002/cnm.3155
Sponsors:
United Kingdom Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
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Abstract
Understanding the healing and remodelling processes induced by
myocardial infarction (MI) of the heart is important, and the mechanical
properties of the myocardium post-MI can be indicative for effective
treatments aimed at avoiding eventual heart failure. MI remodelling is a
multiscale feedback process between the mechanical loading and cellular
adaptation. In this paper, we use an agent-based model to describe
collagen remodelling by fibroblasts regulated by chemical and mechanical
cues after acute MI, and upscale into a finite element 3D left
ventricular model. We model the dispersed collagen fibre structure using
the angular integration method and have incorporated a collagen fibre
tension-compression switch in the left ventricle (LV) model. This
enables us to study the scar healing (collagen deposition, degradation,
and reorientation) of a rat heart post-MI. Our results, in terms of
collagen accumulation and alignment, compare well with published
experimental data. In addition, we show that different shapes of the MI
region can affect the collagen remodelling, and in particular, the
mechanical cue plays an important role in the healing process.
Tags
Agent-based model
finite element method
mechanics
Myocardial infarction
growth
disease
Heart
Strain
Stress
Fibroblast migration
Fibre orientation
Left
ventricular modelling
Scar structure