Abstract
The pulmonary circulation is a unique low resistance system that carries almost the entire cardiac output, and is responsible for the essential role of providing oxygenated blood to the body. As the pulmonary circulation differs from the systemic circulation in its development, structure, and function, it is often most appropriate to study the mechanisms that contribute toward pulmonary vascular disease separately from those of systemic vascular disease at the genetic, cellular, tissue and organ level. Here we review the development of multi-scale, anatomically based models of the pulmonary circulation. These models aim to describe the interaction of structural and functional aspects of the pulmonary circulation that are the most important in determining the effective uptake of oxygen to the blood. We describe how these models have been used to understand normal lung physiology and to explain outcomes in pulmonary disease. Finally, we consider the future of multi-scale modeling in the pulmonary circulation and discuss what can be learned from well-developed multi-scale models of the pulmonary airspaces that interact closely with the lung’s circulatory system.
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Clark, A.R., Burrowes, K.S., Tawhai, M.H. (2013). Translational Research: Multi-Scale Models of the Pulmonary Circulation in Health and Disease. In: Gefen, A. (eds) Multiscale Computer Modeling in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering. Studies in Mechanobiology, Tissue Engineering and Biomaterials, vol 14. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/8415_2012_152
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