Fluid mechanics of sarcomeres as porous media

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Severn, John, Vacus, Thomas, Lauga, Eric
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Severn, John
Vacus, Thomas
Lauga, Eric
author_facet Severn, John
Vacus, Thomas
Lauga, Eric
contents Muscle contraction, both in skeletal and cardiac tissue, is driven by sarcomeres, the microscopic units inside muscle cells where thick myosin and thin actin filaments slide past each other. During contraction and relaxation, the sarcomere's volume changes, causing sarcoplasm (intra-sarcomeric fluid) to flow out during contraction and back in as the sarcomere relaxes. We present a quantitative model of this sarcoplasmic flow, treating the sarcomere as an anisotropic porous medium with regions defined by the presence and absence of thick and thin filaments. Using semi-analytic methods, we solve for axial and lateral fluid flow within the filament lattice, calculating the permeabilities of this porous structure. We then apply these permeabilities within a Darcy model to determine the flow field generated during contraction. The predictions of our continuum model show excellent agreement with finite element simulations, reducing computational time by several orders of magnitude while maintaining accuracy in modelling the biophysical flow dynamics.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_14202
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Fluid mechanics of sarcomeres as porous media
Severn, John
Vacus, Thomas
Lauga, Eric
Fluid Dynamics
Soft Condensed Matter
Biological Physics
Muscle contraction, both in skeletal and cardiac tissue, is driven by sarcomeres, the microscopic units inside muscle cells where thick myosin and thin actin filaments slide past each other. During contraction and relaxation, the sarcomere's volume changes, causing sarcoplasm (intra-sarcomeric fluid) to flow out during contraction and back in as the sarcomere relaxes. We present a quantitative model of this sarcoplasmic flow, treating the sarcomere as an anisotropic porous medium with regions defined by the presence and absence of thick and thin filaments. Using semi-analytic methods, we solve for axial and lateral fluid flow within the filament lattice, calculating the permeabilities of this porous structure. We then apply these permeabilities within a Darcy model to determine the flow field generated during contraction. The predictions of our continuum model show excellent agreement with finite element simulations, reducing computational time by several orders of magnitude while maintaining accuracy in modelling the biophysical flow dynamics.
title Fluid mechanics of sarcomeres as porous media
topic Fluid Dynamics
Soft Condensed Matter
Biological Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.14202