Vascular Tissue Modelling Environment

Over a number of years a multiscale model for vascular tissue has been developed and extended. The model combines (1) a fluid flow in a vessel network, (2) partial differential equations for the transport, release and uptake of diffusible substances such as oxygen; (3) cell division and reinforced random walks of cells on a regular lattice; (4) ordinary differential equations for subcellular networks that regulate the cell cycle and growth factors; and (5) integration of angiogenic and vasculogenic endothelial cells into the vascular network [1]. This project is currently being implemented within the "Cancer, Heart and Soft Tissue Environment" (Chaste) [2], which is part of the virtual phisiological human (VPH) Toolkit. The purpose of adding the vascular model to Chaste is to obtain a robust, open-source and extensible Vascular Tissue Modelling Environment (VTME), which allows biologists to test hypotheses on the mechanisms of vascular tissue growth and homeostasis, and to test potential new treatments for various pathologies. The strategy adopted for the development of VTME was to identify the original multiscale vascular model main functionalities and reconceptualize them to suit the Chaste methodology. To date, most aspects of the multiscale model except for the vascular parts have been implemented, are available for download and will form part of the next Chaste public release. VTME functionalities are verified against the original model, in addition to extra validation of the all parts of the code. Extensive nightly and weekly testing of the code base means that functionalities should be preserved over time, allowing the generation of reproducible simulation results.