Numerical Modelling of Blood Flow in the Mouse Aortic Arch Using Inflow Velocities Obtained by Phase-Contrast MRI

Atherosclerotic lesions have a highly non-uniform distribution in regions of arterial branching and curvature, consistent with hemodynamic factors, in particular wall shear stress (WSS), controlling their development. The widespread and increasing use of the mouse as a model for studying atherosclerosis has encouraged investigation of the hemodynamics of the mouse aortic arch [1–3], in which previous studies have revealed areas of high and low lesion prevalence and variation in the expression of pro-atherogenic molecules [4]. Our previous computational simulations [1–2] did not produce distributions of WSS that explain the pattern of lesions. We are currently investigating whether incorporation of more realistic aortic root velocity measurements, obtained using phase-contrast magnetic resonance imaging (PC-MRI), into these simulations can improve the correlation with disease. Here we present velocities obtained by PC-MRI and preliminary simulations employing the data.