Open Access

ARTICLE

3D Fluid-Structure Interaction Canine Heart Model with Patch to Quantify Mechanical Conditions for Optimal Myocardium Stem Cell Growth and Tissue Regeneration

Heng Zuo^*, Dalin Tang^*,†,‡, Chun Yang^*,§, Glenn Gaudette^¶, Kristen L. Billiar^¶, Pedro J. del Nidok^II

* Math Sciences Department, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester MA 01609, USA.
† School of Biological Science & Medical Engineering Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China.
‡ Corresponding author. School of Biological Science & Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China.
§ Network Technology Research Institute, China United Network Communications Co., Ltd., Beijing, 210029, China.
¶ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609, USA.
II Department of Cardiac Surgery, Children’s Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115 USA.

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics 2015, 12(2), 67-85. https://doi.org/10.3970/mcb.2015.012.067

Abstract

Right ventricular (RV) dysfunction is a common cause of heart failure in patients with congenital heart defects and often leads to impaired functional capacity and premature death. Myocardial tissue regeneration techniques are being developed for the potential that viable myocardium may be regenerated to replace scar tissues in the heart or used as patch material in heart surgery. 3D computational RV/LV/Patch models with fluid-structure interactions (FSI) were constructed based on data from a healthy dog heart to obtain local fluid dynamics and structural stress/strain information and identify optimal conditions under which tissue regeneration techniques could achieve best outcome. RV/LV/Patch geometry and blood pressure data were obtained from a dog following established procedures. Four FSI models were used to quantify the influence of different patch materials (Dacron scaffold, treated pericardium) on local environment around the patch area, especially focusing on the thickness and stiffness of the patch. Our results indicated that changes in patch stiffness had little impact on the ejection fraction of the right ventricle because the total patch area was small. However, patch stiffness had huge impact on local RV maximum principal stress (Stress-P1) and strain (Strain-P1) around the patch area. Compared to the no-patch model, patch models had increased Stress-P1 and decreased Strain-P1 values in the patch area. Softer patches were associated with greater stress/strain variations. Thinner patch led to complex local flow environment which may have impact on myocytes seeding and RV remodeling. Our multi-physics RV/LV/Patch FSI model can serve as a useful tool to investigate cellular biology and tissue regeneration under localized flow and structural stress environment.

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