A biomechanical model of wound contraction and scar formation

Authored by Le Yang, Tarynn M. Witten, Ramana M. Pidaparti

Date Published: 2013-09-07

DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2013.03.013

Sponsors: No sponsors listed

Platforms: No platforms listed

Model Documentation: Other Narrative Flow charts Mathematical description

Model Code URLs: Model code not found

Abstract

We propose a biomechanical model for investigating wound contraction mechanism and resulting scarring. Extracellular matrix is modeled as fiber-reinforced anisotropic soft tissue, with its elastic properties dynamically changing with the density and orientation of collagen fibers. Collagen fibers are deposited by fibroblasts infiltrating the wound space, and are dynamically aligned with both migrating fibroblasts and tissue residing tension field. Our new 2D hybrid agent-based model provides a comprehensive platform for examining the mechanobiology in wound contraction and scar formation. Simulation results are consistent with experimental observations and are able to reveal the effects of wound morphology and mechanical environment on contraction patterns. Our model results support the hypothesis that scar formation is the product of collagen fiber synthesis and alignment in the presence of the tensile stress field generated by a wound contraction process. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Tags

Collagen alignment Fiber-reinforced anisotropic soft tissue finite element method