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Biological System Interactions Proc. Nati. Acad. Sci. USA Vol. 81, pp. 2938-2940, May 1984 Physiological Sciences -Biological system interactions (modeling/delayed effects/coupled equations and coupled systems/oscillations and anharmonic oscillators/cellular or population growth) G. ADOMIAN*, G. E. ADOMIANtf, AND R. E. BELLMAN*§ *Center for Applied Mathematics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602; tDepartment of Medicine, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and tUniversity of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine, Torrance, CA 90509; and §University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90007 Contributed by Richard E. Bellman, January 11, 1984 ABSTRACT Mathematical modeling of cellular popula- dom, or coupled, as well as integral boundary conditions as tion growth, interconnected subsystems of the body, blood in the von Foerster problem arising in cellular population flow, and numerous other complex biological systems prob- growth modeling (8, 9) and other biological problems (7). lems involves nonlinearities and generally randomness as well. Neural networks, for example, in their processing and trans- Such problems have been dealt with by mathematical methods mission of information display nonlinearity as an essential often changing the actual model to make it tractable. The feature as well as couplings and fluctuation. method presented in this paper (and referenced works) allows When the analytical methodology makes the mathematical much more physically realistic solutions. solution deviate significantly from the model whose solution was sought, it will convey a false sense ofunderstanding that Modeling and analysis of a number of biological problems will be unjustified by experimental results or actual observa- involving interactions of physiological systems, such as tions. The simplifications are of course made in the name of those between the respiratory system and the cardiovascular tractability and the use of well-known mathematics, but they system, can benefit significantly from new advances in neglect intrinsic nonlinear and stochastic behavior and mean mathematical methodology (1), which allow solution of dy- simply that the problem has been changed to a different one namical systems involving coupled systems (2), anharmonic than intended. oscillators (3), nonlinear ordinary or partial differential equa- The decomposition method (1) is also an approximation tions (4, 5), and delay equations (6). Very general oscillators method, but all modeling is approximation and this method- that have been studied (3) can be applied to blood pressure ology approximates (accurately and in an easily computable oscillations and cardiac and neural problems. Cardiac pace- manner) the solution of the real nonlinear and possibly sto- makers, for example, involve stimulation of a regular biolog- chastic problem rather than a grossly simplified linearized or ical rhythm with an external oscillator and can be modeled averaged problem. by coupled anharmonic oscillators with time delays. All dy- Adequate modeling of blood flow in the human cardiovas- namical problems are basically nonlinear; commonly used cular system and ability to solve the resulting very complex mathematical approaches that involve some form of linear- nonlinear equations would contribute materially to better un- ization are too limited in scope and involve gross and unsat- derstandings of pathogenesis of arterial disease and the de- isfactory approximations changing essentially the nonlinear sign of artificial hearts. Such a solution would depend on nature of the actual system being analyzed. Thus, the mathe- solving the general Navier-Stokes equations without resort matical system actually solved is quite different from the to linearization and assumptions of "smallness." These original nonlinear model. Commonly used nonlinear least equations model fluid flow and occur in a wide variety of squares analysis for data analysis (such as the Gauss-New- physical applications affecting design of aircraft engines, ton method) involves the same serious deficiency that can shapes of airfoils in aerodynamics, and internal waves in the now be circumvented (7). ocean and have therefore been intensively studied by physi- Randomness is, of course, another factor present in real cists. Despite this, however, the solutions indeed leave systems due to a variety of causes. This can be randomness much to be desired. For example, the ocean dealt with in or fluctuations either in parameters of an individual system hydrodynamics studies is a mathematized ocean, not the real or in equations involving variations from one individual to ocean in which pressure, density, and velocity are fluctuat- another. Compartment analysis is used to model intercon- ing or stochastic variables. Nonlinearities are linearized and nected subsystems (respiratory system, cardiovascular sys- complex terms are dropped in order to get a solution and the tem, etc., or possibly organs-liver, heart, etc.). This leads flow is assumed to be laminar since turbulence has not been to differential equations that realistically are both nonlinear tractable to mathematical analysis. Turbulence is a strongly and stochastic. This randomness can manifest itself in coef- nonlinear and stochastic phenomenon and the existing math- ficients of differential operators, in inputs, or in initial or ematics that can only deal with linearized and perturbative boundary conditions. cases is not adequate. The blood flow problem is modeled by Randomness, or stochasticity, in physical (or biological) these same equations as well as by boundary conditions that systems, like nonlinearity, is generally dealt with by prrtur- may be even more complicated. We are dealing with flow of bative methods, averagings which are not generally valid, or a complex fluid through an elastic or viscoelastic vessel with other specialized and restrictive assumptions that do not re- branches, organs, prosthetic devices or natural heart valves, alistically represent fluctuations, especially if fluctuations and tubes of varying diameter with possible motion of the are not relatively negligible. We emphasize that the methods walls under pulsatile flow because of elasticity. Detailed used here do not require assumption of small nonlinearity or analysis of arterial flow should consider unsteady viscous small randomness, linearization, or closure approximations. flow and retain all the nonlinear terms. The assumptions of Finally, the methods (1) can handle extremely complex smallness-e.g., in wall motions-are unrealistic since such initial or boundary conditions that may be nonlinear, ran- motions may have a significant effect on flow-as in the aor- ta. The objective is to determine the velocity, knowing quan- to estimate The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge tities such as pressure. Then it is possible stress- payment. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" es on the walls and possible wall damage or filtration, throm- in accordance with 18 U.S.C. §1734 solely to indicate this fact. bus growth, or the behavior in an artificial heart. To be able 2938 Downloaded by guest on September 29, 2021 Physiological Sciences: Adomian et aL Proc. NatL. Acad. Sci. USA 81 (1984) 2939 to describe mathematically the flow of blood through pros- linearity N2(t) thetic or natural heart valves or the flow about any obstacle in a vessel, or the analytical description of flow under condi- tions where it becomes nonlaminar, could help diagnoses AO = No and design of prosthetic devices. Finally, we must be able to A1 = 2NoN, handle another hitherto unsolved problem-that of nonlin- [6] ear boundary conditions as a result of nonlinear changes of A2 = N2 + 2NoN2 area with pressure changes. A3 = 2(N1N2 + NoN3) An interesting area of problems also arises in cellular sys- tems and aging models. Cellular population growth models can involve time lags, coupled equations, nonlinearities, and possibly stochastic parameters as well as boundary condi- tions that can be random, nonlinear, or coupled (9-11). Consider for example, the Pearl-Verhulst equation (1) Thus, N1 = kL-UNo - gL-'N2 dN(t) kN(t) - (k/Nc)N2(t), [1] dt N2 = kL-Nj - 2gL-'NoN, [7] N3 = kL-'N2 - gL-'[N2 + where N(t) is the number of cells at time t given initial condi- 2NoN2] tions that at to, we had No cells, k = X - , is the net rate of increase or decrease of population (X is birth rate; , is death rate), and NC is the largest population that the environment can support. Let us write this as Consequently, since No = N(O) dN(t) _ kN(t) + gN2(t) = 0 dt [2] N1 = kL-1N(O) - gN(0)2t N2 = kL-l[kL-1N(O) - gN(0)2t] and define the operator L = d/dt. Equations in this general form have been solved (2) even if k and g are stochastic pro- - 2gL-1No[kL-'N(O) - gN(0)2t] cesses, if L involves higher derivatives, and for large classes of nonlinearities more difficult than the quadratic nonlinear- k2N(O)t2 kgN(O)2t2 ity. Here, we take k, g as constants and write 2 2 2kgN(0)2t2 2g2N(0)3t2 LN(t) = kN(t) - gN2(t) 2 2 L-'LN(t) = N(t) - N(O) = - = - [k2N(O) - 2kgN(0)2 + g2N(0)3], L-kN(t) L-'gN2(t). 2 Consequently, etc. N(t) = N(O) = kL-'N(t) - gL-'N2(t). [3] Clearly, all terms are easily calculated. Mathematical modeling must represent behavior realisti- Writing N2(t) = -=O A,, where the A, are a special class of cally, as well as being computable. An analytic solution of a polynomials discussed elsewhere (1), then model that deviates significantly from the actual physical problem being modeled can convey a false sense of under- standing unjustified by experimental or actual results. These of course, for N(t) = N(O) + kL-'N(t) - gL-1 An [4] simplifications, made, tractability of equations n=O and the use of well-understood mathematical methods, ne- glect quite seriously the essentially nonlinear and stochastic ' Let N(t) be decomposed into components =o N,(t), which nature of physical and biological phenomena. Linearity is a are to be determined taking No as N(O) in this case.
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