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Computational modeling of interstitial fluid in the brain neuropil for an improved understanding of solute transport in the brain

Roozendaal, R. (2022) Computational modeling of interstitial fluid in the brain neuropil for an improved understanding of solute transport in the brain.

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Abstract:Alzheimer’s disease is neurological disorder that gradually destroys the brain. The human brain has long been a mystery, which made finding the cause of Alzheimer’s disease difficult. It is believed that accumulation of certain waste proteins produced in the brain is a cause of the neurological disorder. Proteins like amyloid β are transported away via the interstitial fluid (ISF) towards perivascular spaces where it is removed from the brain. The means of transportation of these solutes is of interest. This research studied the flow in the interstitial space, and evaluated whether diffusion or advection is the dominant transport phenomenon for solutes in the interstitial space. The interstitial flow is simulated using the Lattice Boltzmann Method. This is a CFD method based on a statistical approach of the collisions and movement of particles. The Lattice Boltzmann method lends itself for being used in complex geometries such as the interstitial space. The structured mesh is relatively easy to create and the calculations can be relatively easy parallelised. Parallelisation is in particular interesting in combinations with High Performance Computing, in which many processing cores are used for more computing power. Simulations were done on meshes with around 385 million elements. The results were in agreement with flow values found in literature. Diffusion still seemed like the more dominant transport phenomenon for amyloid β, even with the glymphatic bulk flow. However, the results were not as convincing as in other studies, with P ́eclet numbers averaging around 0.1808 for amyloid β monomers, and 0.5213 for oligomers consisting of 24 monomers.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:ET: Engineering Technology
Subject:52 mechanical engineering
Programme:Mechanical Engineering MSc (60439)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/89350
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