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Biofluid modeling of the coupled eye-brain system and insights into simulated microgravity conditions
This work aims at investigating the interactions between the flow of fluids in the eyes and the brain and their potential implications in structural and functional changes in the eyes of astronauts, a condition also known as spaceflight associated neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS). To this end, we propos...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2019
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6693745/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31412033 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216012 |
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author | Salerni, Fabrizia Repetto, Rodolfo Harris, Alon Pinsky, Peter Prud’homme, Christophe Szopos, Marcela Guidoboni, Giovanna |
author_facet | Salerni, Fabrizia Repetto, Rodolfo Harris, Alon Pinsky, Peter Prud’homme, Christophe Szopos, Marcela Guidoboni, Giovanna |
author_sort | Salerni, Fabrizia |
collection | PubMed |
description | This work aims at investigating the interactions between the flow of fluids in the eyes and the brain and their potential implications in structural and functional changes in the eyes of astronauts, a condition also known as spaceflight associated neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS). To this end, we propose a reduced (0-dimensional) mathematical model of fluid flow in the eyes and brain, which is embedded into a simplified whole-body circulation model. In particular, the model accounts for: (i) the flows of blood and aqueous humor in the eyes; (ii) the flows of blood, cerebrospinal fluid and interstitial fluid in the brain; and (iii) their interactions. The model is used to simulate variations in intraocular pressure, intracranial pressure and blood flow due to microgravity conditions, which are thought to be critical factors in SANS. Specifically, the model predicts that both intracranial and intraocular pressures increase in microgravity, even though their respective trends may be different. In such conditions, ocular blood flow is predicted to decrease in the choroid and ciliary body circulations, whereas retinal circulation is found to be less susceptible to microgravity-induced alterations, owing to a purely mechanical component in perfusion control associated with the venous segments. These findings indicate that the particular anatomical architecture of venous drainage in the retina may be one of the reasons why most of the SANS alterations are not observed in the retina but, rather, in other vascular beds, particularly the choroid. Thus, clinical assessment of ocular venous function may be considered as a determinant SANS factor, for which astronauts could be screened on earth and in-flight. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6693745 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2019 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-66937452019-08-16 Biofluid modeling of the coupled eye-brain system and insights into simulated microgravity conditions Salerni, Fabrizia Repetto, Rodolfo Harris, Alon Pinsky, Peter Prud’homme, Christophe Szopos, Marcela Guidoboni, Giovanna PLoS One Research Article This work aims at investigating the interactions between the flow of fluids in the eyes and the brain and their potential implications in structural and functional changes in the eyes of astronauts, a condition also known as spaceflight associated neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS). To this end, we propose a reduced (0-dimensional) mathematical model of fluid flow in the eyes and brain, which is embedded into a simplified whole-body circulation model. In particular, the model accounts for: (i) the flows of blood and aqueous humor in the eyes; (ii) the flows of blood, cerebrospinal fluid and interstitial fluid in the brain; and (iii) their interactions. The model is used to simulate variations in intraocular pressure, intracranial pressure and blood flow due to microgravity conditions, which are thought to be critical factors in SANS. Specifically, the model predicts that both intracranial and intraocular pressures increase in microgravity, even though their respective trends may be different. In such conditions, ocular blood flow is predicted to decrease in the choroid and ciliary body circulations, whereas retinal circulation is found to be less susceptible to microgravity-induced alterations, owing to a purely mechanical component in perfusion control associated with the venous segments. These findings indicate that the particular anatomical architecture of venous drainage in the retina may be one of the reasons why most of the SANS alterations are not observed in the retina but, rather, in other vascular beds, particularly the choroid. Thus, clinical assessment of ocular venous function may be considered as a determinant SANS factor, for which astronauts could be screened on earth and in-flight. Public Library of Science 2019-08-14 /pmc/articles/PMC6693745/ /pubmed/31412033 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216012 Text en © 2019 Salerni et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Salerni, Fabrizia Repetto, Rodolfo Harris, Alon Pinsky, Peter Prud’homme, Christophe Szopos, Marcela Guidoboni, Giovanna Biofluid modeling of the coupled eye-brain system and insights into simulated microgravity conditions |
title | Biofluid modeling of the coupled eye-brain system and insights into simulated microgravity conditions |
title_full | Biofluid modeling of the coupled eye-brain system and insights into simulated microgravity conditions |
title_fullStr | Biofluid modeling of the coupled eye-brain system and insights into simulated microgravity conditions |
title_full_unstemmed | Biofluid modeling of the coupled eye-brain system and insights into simulated microgravity conditions |
title_short | Biofluid modeling of the coupled eye-brain system and insights into simulated microgravity conditions |
title_sort | biofluid modeling of the coupled eye-brain system and insights into simulated microgravity conditions |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6693745/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31412033 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216012 |
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