Convected element method for simulation of angiogenesis

We describe a novel Convected Element Method (CEM) for simulation of formation of functional blood vessels induced by tumor-generated growth factors in a process called angiogenesis. Angiogenesis is typically modeled by a convection-diffusion-reaction equation defined on a continuous domain. A difficulty arises when a continuum approach is used to represent the formation of discrete blood vessel structures. CEM solves this difficulty by using a hybrid continuous/discrete solution method allowing lattice-free tracking of blood vessel tips that trace out paths that subsequently are used to define compact vessel elements. In contrast to more conventional angiogenesis modeling, the new branches form evolving grids that are capable of simulating transport of biological and chemical factors such as nutrition and anti-angiogenic agents. The method is demonstrated on expository vessel growth and tumor response simulations for a selected set of conditions, and include effects of nutrient delivery and inhibition of vessel branching. Initial results show that CEM can predict qualitatively the development of biologically reasonable and fully functional vascular structures. Research is being carried out to generalize the approach which will allow quantitative predictions.