A closed-loop model of the ovine cardiovascular system

Area of Science:

• Physiology
• Biomedical Engineering
• Computational Biology

Background:

• Developing accurate physiological models is crucial for testing medical devices.
• The ovine cardiovascular system serves as a relevant animal model for human cardiovascular research.
• Simulating hemodynamic responses to physiological stress is complex.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a closed-loop computational model of the ovine cardiovascular system.
• To create a platform for simulating the hemodynamic efficacy of cardiopulmonary assist devices.
• To validate the model against physiological data and its predictive capabilities.

Main Methods:

• A distributed model of systemic circulation, including nonlinear systemic venous pressure-volume relations.
• Incorporation of a lumped model for neural control of blood pressure.
• Validation against measured data from healthy, reclining sheep and assessment of orthostatic stress response.

Main Results:

• The model provides good approximations to measured hemodynamic data in sheep.
• The model successfully predicts hemodynamic changes during preload variation (e.g., standing).
• The model captures short-term, neurally mediated cardiovascular responses to orthostatic stress.

Conclusions:

• The developed ovine cardiovascular model serves as a robust simulation platform.
• This platform is suitable for evaluating the hemodynamic efficacy of cardiopulmonary assist devices.
• The model's accuracy in predicting physiological responses enhances its utility for device testing.