Background

Atherosclerosis is a degenerative disease of the arterial wall. It results in the formation of progressively growing plaque lesions that can harden and narrow their host arteries. Current computational models of the inflammatory process that govern atherosclerosis growth are reliant on a number of parameters that can freely vary and whose precise values are not well known.

Methods

To identify the significance of variation in such parameters, a parametric sensitivity study had been conducted on the blood density, blood viscosity, plasma viscosity and bulk flow low density lipoprotein (LDL) concentration. Using computational modeling, the significance of variation in these parameters was assessed on the transport of LDL. The simulation was performed via the 2^k factorial experimental design, which was conducted to identify the significance of the select parameters on the intima LDL concentration and endothelial LDL coverage area.

Results

Results identified the blood viscosity and bulk flow LDL concentration are the dominant parameters for the atherosclerotic lesion growth. The coverage of LDL on the arterial wall surface was strongly dependent on the blood viscosity. The significance of these findings was discussed.

Conclusion

This statistical study identifies two dominating blood factors, LDL concentration and blood viscosity, and how they influence atherosclerosis which will serves as a guideline for further investigation on the atherosclerosis topic.

中文翻译：

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运输参数对动脉粥样硬化病变生长的影响：参数敏感性分析

背景

动脉粥样硬化是动脉壁的退行性疾病。它导致形成逐渐增长的斑块病变，可硬化并缩小其宿主动脉。当前控制动脉粥样硬化生长的炎症过程的计算模型依赖于许多参数，这些参数可以自由变化并且其精确值尚不清楚。

方法

为了确定这些参数变化的重要性，已对血液密度，血液粘度，血浆粘度和大流量低密度脂蛋白（LDL）浓度进行了参数敏感性研究。使用计算模型，在LDL的运输中评估了这些参数变化的重要性。模拟是通过2 ^k阶乘实验设计进行的，旨在确定所选参数对内膜LDL浓度和内皮LDL覆盖面积的重要性。

结果

结果表明，血液粘度和大流量LDL浓度是动脉粥样硬化病变生长的主要参数。LDL在动脉壁表面的覆盖率在很大程度上取决于血液粘度。讨论了这些发现的意义。

结论

这项统计研究确定了两个主要的血液因素，即LDL浓度和血液粘度，以及它们如何影响动脉粥样硬化，这将为进一步研究动脉粥样硬化主题提供指导。