Transport in nanoconfinement and within blood vessel wall

Abstract

The transport of matter is the fundamental biomechanical process in living organisms. It occurs on all time and length scales, from picoseconds to days and from molecular to organ levels. The role of computer modeling is to help elucidating the basic mechanisms in the transport phenomena, investigated experimentally under laboratory and clinical conditions. In this report we briefly present computational approaches to model transport on small—nanoscale, within nanoconfinement, and on macroscale—considering transport of Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL) within blood in arterial vessel and within blood vessel tissue. The results illustrate important surface effects on diffusion of molecules when dimensions of diffusion domain are comparable to those of the transporting molecules. On the other hand, the transport model of LDL in the vessel lumen and through tissue and the model of plaque initiation can help in development of drugs and procedures in treating atherosclerosis.