title: A wave dynamics criterion for optimization of mammalian cardiovascular system.
abstract: The cardiovascular system in mammals follows various optimization criteria covering the heart, the vascular network, and the coupling of the two. Through a simple dimensional analysis we arrived at a non-dimensional number (wave condition number) that can predict the optimum wave state in which the left ventricular (LV) pulsatile power (LV workload) is minimized in a mammalian cardiovascular system. This number is also universal among all mammals independent of animal size maintaining a value of around 0.1. By utilizing a unique in vitro model of human aorta, we tested our hypothesis against a wide range of aortic compliance (pulse wave velocity). We concluded that the optimum value of the wave condition number remains to be around 0.1 for a wide range of aorta compliance that we could simulate in our in-vitro system.
authors.affiliation: Option of Bioengineering, Division of Engineering & Applied Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Niema M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Pahlevan
authors.affiliation: Graduate Aerospace Laboratory, Division of Engineering & Applied Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA. Electronic address: mgharib@caltech.edu.
authors.forename: Morteza
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gharib
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001011:Aorta / Q000502:physiology*; D002320:Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena; D002319:Cardiovascular System; D006321:Heart / Q000502:physiology*; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D063177:Pulse Wave Analysis
keywords: Aorta; Arterial wave reflection; Hemodynamics; Left ventricular workload; Mammalian cardiovascular system; Optimum heart rate