Low-density lipoproteins transport from blood flow to the arterial wall in the human carotid bifurcation

The carotid arteries are a common site of atherosclerotic plaque formation, which has been linked to the blood flow patterns and the mass transport phenomenon. The purpose of this research was to study the lipid transport in a human carotid artery model, focusing on the effects of local geometric and hemodynamic factors on mass transfer from blood flow to vessel wall and its concentration at the luminal surface of the artery. The Reynolds number, 250, and the Schmidt number, 6.66 x 10(5), were selected to model the mass transfer of LDL macro molecules, and in order to see the effect of Reynolds and Schmidt numbers to mass transport, the model was analyzed with different conditions. The steady state flow was used for two dimensional carotid geometry. At the inlet, the blood flow was assumed a steady fully developed laminar velocity profile with a uniform LDL concentration. The vessel wall was assumed permeable to water and semipermeable to LDL macro molecules. The problem was analyzed with the finite element method. The results show 26% increase of LDL concentration from inlet value at the luminal surface of the artery located in the separated flow region. The maximum value of LDL concentration occurred at the separation point.