The central role of metabolism in vascular morphogenesis

Fuente: arXiv
Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Gounaris, Georgios, Jovchevska, Mija, Garcia, Miguel Ruiz, Katifori, Eleni
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
_version_ 1866909390059077632
author Gounaris, Georgios
Jovchevska, Mija
Garcia, Miguel Ruiz
Katifori, Eleni
author_facet Gounaris, Georgios
Jovchevska, Mija
Garcia, Miguel Ruiz
Katifori, Eleni
contents As nutrients travel through microcirculation and are absorbed, their availability continuously decreases. However, a uniform nutrient distribution is critical, as it prevents tissue death in poorly supplied areas. How, then, do vascular networks achieve equi-perfusion? Given the extensive number of vessels in animal vascular systems, the structure of smaller vessels cannot be fully genetically predetermined and thus relies on a self-organizing developmental mechanism. We propose a simple, optimization-based adaptation rule to control vessel radii, aiming to equalize perfusion while minimizing flow resistance and material cost. This adaptation balances three competing factors: perfusion efficiency, energy dissipation, and material expenditure, which together drive complex network morphologies. These morphologies range from hierarchical architectures optimized for minimal resistance and material cost to dense networks that achieve efficient perfusion. Notably, metabolic demand is the primary factor modulating the transition between these contrasting structures. By applying our adaptation rule to networks in the rat mesentery and comparing the resulting optimal perfusion architectures with the experimental data, we can estimate the biologically relevant parameters, such as the oxygen absorption rate, for which the optimization and experimental networks align the most. Surprisingly, the optimal absorption rate we derive matches independent in vivo measurements. This suggests that reduced-order models like ours can provide valuable insights into the development and function of real vascular networks.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2111_04657
institution arXiv
publishDate 2021
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The central role of metabolism in vascular morphogenesis
Gounaris, Georgios
Jovchevska, Mija
Garcia, Miguel Ruiz
Katifori, Eleni
Tissues and Organs
Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems
Biological Physics
As nutrients travel through microcirculation and are absorbed, their availability continuously decreases. However, a uniform nutrient distribution is critical, as it prevents tissue death in poorly supplied areas. How, then, do vascular networks achieve equi-perfusion? Given the extensive number of vessels in animal vascular systems, the structure of smaller vessels cannot be fully genetically predetermined and thus relies on a self-organizing developmental mechanism. We propose a simple, optimization-based adaptation rule to control vessel radii, aiming to equalize perfusion while minimizing flow resistance and material cost. This adaptation balances three competing factors: perfusion efficiency, energy dissipation, and material expenditure, which together drive complex network morphologies. These morphologies range from hierarchical architectures optimized for minimal resistance and material cost to dense networks that achieve efficient perfusion. Notably, metabolic demand is the primary factor modulating the transition between these contrasting structures. By applying our adaptation rule to networks in the rat mesentery and comparing the resulting optimal perfusion architectures with the experimental data, we can estimate the biologically relevant parameters, such as the oxygen absorption rate, for which the optimization and experimental networks align the most. Surprisingly, the optimal absorption rate we derive matches independent in vivo measurements. This suggests that reduced-order models like ours can provide valuable insights into the development and function of real vascular networks.
title The central role of metabolism in vascular morphogenesis
topic Tissues and Organs
Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems
Biological Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2111.04657