New view of convective-diffusive processes in the arterial intima

Macromolecular transport across the arterial wall is closely linked to a variety of processes in the intima that are believed to play an important role in the subendothelial accumulation of lipid and the formation of the early foam cell lesion. In this paper the authors present a new conceptual two-dimensional, time-dependent model for macromolecular transport across the arterial wall in which special emphasis is placed on the modeling of the convective-diffusive transport processes in the subendothelial intima and across the internal elastic lamina. This model is an important extension of the leaky junction-cell turnover theory proposed by Weinbaum et al., and, they believe, sheds a new light on the role that the internal elastic lamina plays in modulating both the subendothelial water and macromolecular fluxes in the artery wall and the structure of normal arterial interendothelial clefts.

Duke Scholars

Author Fan Yuan Biomedical Engineering