Mathematical modelling of anisotropy in fibrous connective tissue

We present two modelling frameworks for studying dynamic anistropy in conne ctive tissue, motivated by the problem of fibre alignment in wound healing. The first model is a system of partial differential equations operating on a macroscopic scale. We show that a model consisting of a single extracell ular matrix material aligned by fibroblasts via flux and stress exhibits be haviour that is incompatible with experimental observations, We extend the model to two matrix types and show that the results of this extended model are robust and consistent with experiment. The second model represents cell s as discrete objects in a continuum of ECM. We show that this model predic ts patterns of alignment on macroscopic length scales that are lost in a co ntinuum model of the cell population. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc. All ri ghts reserved.