Mathematical models of nitric oxide transport in a blood vessel

The appearance of this review concerning the nitric oxide transport in a blood vessel wall is connected with the authors' interest in vessel tone regulation. The introductory part contains basic equations for resistive vessels, an outline of processes occurring in smooth muscle and endothelial cells, and the simulation of these processes. As a rule, the description of nitric oxide diffusion and reactions in blood vessels is given in the order of increasing complication of the models. Primary attention is given to the consideration of systems with endothelial production of nitric oxide, but articles cosidering other sources of nitric oxide are also reviewed. The theoretical methods of evaluating the parameters that are important for modeling but hardly measurable are described.