Interaction between the respiratory and cardiovascular system: a simplified 0-D mathematical model

Introduction: Mathematical modelling of biological processes has be-come an invaluable tool to organize the experimental data obtained on macroscopic and microscopic scale. The multiscale approach is a way of integrating these mathematical models in a modular tool aimed at monitoring the global behaviour of an organism, and predicting and modifying the outcome of clinical treatment. Methods: We have built up a simplified lumped parameter model of human respiratory system, in which electrical and fluid dynamic ana-logues have been exploited to reproduce the behaviour of air flow in-side the different segments of respiratory airways. The parameters and variables are resistance to air flow, pressure and volume of the specific region. The model is of the multi-compartment Windkessel type, and the system is composed of three compartments, the rigid upper airway, the compliant region within the pleura and the alveolar region, in which gas exchange with circulatory system happens. Since the model is based on parameters specific of the subject, it is possible to investigate the general behaviour of respiratory system and intervene on the patient with a personalized medical treatment. Conclusions: The aim of the model is to analyze, with a lumped pa-rameter model, mathematically tractable, the behaviour of human respi-ratory system in the different regions. The model here implemented is a first step towards an integrated multiscale model of human “physiome”, in which the different systems (respiratory, cardiovascular and urinary) are described by mathematical models interacting among them to re-produce the global physiological behaviour of human body.