Mathematics Colloquia and Seminars

Return to Colloquia & Seminar listing

Vascular injury triggers two intertwined processes, platelet deposition and coagulation, and can lead to the formation of intravascular clots (thrombi) that may grow to occlude a blood vessel. Formation of a thrombus involves complex biochemical, biophysical, and biomechanical interactions that are also dynamic and spatially-distributed, and occur on multiple spatial and temporal scales. We previously developed a spatial-temporal mathematical model of these interactions and looked at the interplay between physical factors (flow, transport to the clot, platelet distribution within the blood) and biochemical ones in determining the growth of the clot. Here we extend this model to include reduction of the advection and diffusion of the coagulation proteins in regions of the clot with high platelet number density. The effect of this reduction, in conjunction with limitations on fluid and platelet transport through dense regions of the clot, can be profound. Our results suggest a possible physical mechanism for limiting thrombus growth.