Computational modeling of growth and remodeling in biological soft tissues: Application to arterial mechanics

Traditional approaches in continuum biomechanics have revealed tremendous insights into the behavior of biological soft tissues, including arteries. Nevertheless, such approaches cannot describe or predict perhaps the most important characteristic behavior, the ability of soft tissues to adapt to changes in their chemo-mechanical environment. In this chapter, we introduce and illustrate one possible approach to modeling commonly observed cases of biological growth and remodeling of arteries in response to altered mechanical stimuli. In particular, we introduce a constrained rule-of-mixtures approach to modeling that can account for individual mechanical properties, natural (stress-free) configurations, and rates and extents of turnover of the different structurally significant constituents that make-up an artery. We illustrate how this theoretical framework can be implemented in a nonlinear finite element model of an evolving intracranial fusiform aneurysm and conclude with guidance on future needs for continued research. There is a pressing need, for example, for additional mechanobiological data that can guide the formulation of appropriate constitutive relations for stress-mediated production and removal of structural constituents by the different types of cells that reside within the arterial wall. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.