Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 17
Finite Element Modeling of Solutes in Hydrated
Deformable Biological Tissues
Gerard A. Ateshian and Jeffrey A. Weiss
Abstract
A broad range of biological processes result from a combination of pas-
sive (non-reactive) and active processes involving solvent and solutes, and the ability
to model such processes in a general continuum framework represents an important
tool for biomedical engineers and scientists. Yet, computational tools for modeling
solute transport in neutral and charged deformable media are not widely available.
In recent years, FEBio has been introduced as an open source finite element program
in the public domain (
www.febio.org
), whose purpose is to provide such computa-
tional tools for the analysis of biological mixtures consisting of a porous deformable
solid matrix and interstitial solvent and solutes. This article summarizes the back-
ground literature on this topic and describes the governing equations and some of
the features of mixture analyses in FEBio.
17.1 Introduction
Most biological tissues are highly hydrated and their interstitial fluid contains a
variety of inorganic and organic solutes. These solutes represent a broad range of
constituents, such as nutrients, waste products, cytokines, and the building blocks
of intracellular structures or extracellular matrix. At a fundamental level, most bi-
ological processes evolve from chemical reactions among various constituents of
cells and tissues, and these chemical reactions generally involve any number of so-
lutes. For example, cell and tissue metabolism, growth and degradation processes,
active transport of solutes, active muscle contraction, mechanobiology, etc., repre-
sent broad categories of phenomena that involve the interaction of solutes with cell
and tissue matrix constituents via reactive processes.
G.A. Ateshian (
