Compensatory Effect between Aortic Stiffening and Remodelling during Ageing

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0139211
• Publication Date: 2015-10-01T13:58:21Z
• Authors: Andrea Guala; Carlo Camporeale; Luca Ridolfi
• Keywords: Stiffening; Arterial tree; Aortic pressure

The arterial tree exhibits a complex spatio-temporal wave pattern, whose healthy behaviour depends on subtle balance between mechanical and geometrical properties. Several clinical studies demonstrated that such progressively breaks down during ageing, when the aorta stiffens remodels by increasing its diameter. These two degenerative processes however, have different impacts pattern. They both tend to compensate for each other, thus reducing detrimental effect they would had if arisen individually. This remarkable compensatory mechanism is investigated validated multi-scale model, with aim elucidate how aortic stiffening remodelling quantitatively impact interplay forward reflected backward waves in network. We focus pressure at ventricular-aortic interface, which epidemiological demonstrate play key role cardiovascular diseases.