Semi-analytical representation of the activation level in stress fibre directions as alternative to the angular representation in the bio-chemo-mechanical model for cell contractility.

Abstract

The bio-chemo-mechanical model has many applications in modelling cell contractility. In simulations this model usually is coupled to the continuum mechanics of the cell by defining a large number of directions for stress fibres at each point. In this paper, another representation for coupling the biochemical processes in the bio-chemo-mechanical model is introduced. Using a quadratic form to represent the angular dependency of the activation level, the model's number of degrees of freedom is significantly reduced. Numerical results similar to the original representation are obtained while a significant improvement in computation time is achieved.