Computational framework for generating transport models from databases of microvascular anatomy

Quantitative descriptions of transport and exchange in physiological system s should make use of the emerging wealth of data on vascular anatomic struc ture. These descriptions may take the form of computational models which th en must be incorporated into the comprehensive database of knowledge of mic rocirculatory physiology being developed under the title, The Micro circula tion Physiome Project. Toward this end we present a simple and efficient co mputational method for simulating transport (advection, permeation, diffusi on) in tissues containing microvascular structures of arbitrary complexity. The method is convenient because transport is simulated on a regular Carte sian lattice, and efficient because features of the anatomy are resolved wi thin individual volume elements of the lattice. As a result, relatively low -resolution lattices yield accurate results. Therefore the method provides a feasible approach for studying a general class of transport problems in t he context of realistic representations of vascular anatomy. (C) 2001 Biome dical Engineering Society.