An in Vitro Flow Model for Cardiovascular Inflammation

Cardiovascular disease is modern-day plague with a vast number of lives claimed, and an enormous socio-economic cost incurred. Hemodynamics of the cardiovascular system play an important mechanistic role in disease development. For instance, atherosclerotic plaque depositions are often correlated with regions of turbulent flow patterns and disturbed hemodynamic shear stress. A simplified, rigid, in vitro, flow model of a real-size aortic arch is described. The flow in the arched vessel is attached and healthy at the outer curvature, while it is separated and disturbed at the inner curvature wall, which is an ideal setting to study cardiovascular disease. Endothelial cells can be cultured on the lumen of the aortic arch model under controlled flow conditions and extracted from the inner and outer curvature walls for biochemical signaling studies. The flow velocity field in the model is characterized using particle image velocimetry PIV which allows for the estimation of the wall shear stress. This helps in correlating the underlying hemodynamics to the biomechanical response of the endothelium.