Mathematical Biology seminar
Robert D. Guy
Department of Mathematics, University of Utah
"Modeling fibrin gel formation in a shear flow"
September 21, 2005
3:05pm, LCB 215
Hemostasis is the normal physiological response to blood
vessel injury and is essential to maintaining the integrity of the
vascular system. It consists of two interacting processes: platelet
aggregation and coagulation. The first involves cell-cell adhesion
resulting in a platelet aggregate, and the second involves an enzyme
network that leads to the formation of a fibrin gel. Though both
processes contribute to the formation of blood clots, those formed at
high shear rates are composed primarily of platelets and clots formed
at low shear rates are composed predominantly of fibrin gel. In order
to understand this phenomenon, a simple mathematical model of
chemically-induced monomer production, polymerization, and gelation
under shear flow is presented. The model is used to explore how the
shear rate and other parameters control the formation of fibrin gel.
The results show that the thrombin inhibition rate, the gel
permeability, and the shear rate are key parameters in regulating the
height of the clot.
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Mathematical Biology Program
Department of Mathematics
University of Utah
155 South 1400 East Room 233
Salt Lake City, UT 84112
rasmusse@math.utah.edu
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