Arterial Remodeling in Response to Increased Blood Flow Using a Constituent-Based Model

Changes in medial elastin are critical to arterial remodeling following a sustained increase in blood flow, wherein the lumen enlarges in two phases tending to restore the intimal shear stress to control: 1^st, via rapid smooth muscle relaxation and, 2^nd, via chronic reconstruction of the media [1]. At the same time, wall thickening takes place aiming at restoring the baseline levels of wall stress [2].