Physiome of coronary circulation: simulation of autoregulated coronary flow

The purpose of this study was to explain intramyocardial coronary microvascular diameter changes during a cardiac cycle observed with our needle-probe CCD videomicroscope by a model simulation. An autoregulated coronary flow model was constructed by including a control element that regulates bloodflow by tuning myocardial elastance to our previous model. The relationship between mean flow and perfusion pressure, determined by model experiments, coincided well with the published data. The relative maximal arteriolar diameters in a cardiac cycle were calculated based on simulation. The changes in the diameters were small, coinciding with the experimental observation.