Biomedical Engineering Reference
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Fig. 4 Evolution of the fibroblasts density in the wound centre. Without the influence of oxygen
(continuous line) and under the oxygen effect (dashed line)
the fibroblasts kinetics, the model predicts fibroblasts invasion into the wound
faster than reality, and hence wound healing rate is overestimated.
After a few days the concentrations of all the species are homogeneous in the
whole domain. Both, oxygen and capillary density reach a concentration of 1 (the
normalized density of undamaged dermis), while MDGF appears in the wound site
during the first days but then disappears. The fibroblasts concentration progress
more slowly, but finally reaches the fibroblast density corresponding to the
undamaged dermis.
The distribution of every species one day post-wounding is shown in Fig.
5
.
Results show an elevated density of MDGF in the wound area, whereas the
densities of oxygen, capillaries and fibroblasts grow within the wound more
slowly. In fact, the advance of the so-called healing unit, with the capillaries
invading the wound in first place (i.e. earlier in time) and being followed by the
fibroblasts slightly later in time, is clearly visible.
4.2 Lattice-Based Discrete Models: Distraction Osteogenesis
Distraction osteogenesis is inherently a multi-scale process that involves coupled
phenomena that occur across different spatial and temporal scales. However, as far
as the authors know, this process has only been computationally investigated on a
macroscopic scale, from a continuum perspective [
10
,
11
,
58
,
102
,
103
]. Existing
continuum models consider as state variables the population of cells or tissue
distributions
and
predict
their
macroscopic
evolution
according
to
different
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