arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Vitaly Volpert.
The objective of this chapter is to give an insight of the mathematical modellng of hematopoiesis using multi-agent systems. Several questions may arise then: what is hematopoiesis and why is it interesting to study this problem from a mathematical point of view? Has the multi-agent system approach been the only attempt done until now? What does it bring more than other techniques? What were the results obtained? What is there left to do?
The production and regulation of red blood cells, erythropoiesis, occurs in the bone marrow where erythroid cells proliferate and differentiate within particular structures, called erythroblastic islands. A typical structure of these islands consists in a macrophage (white cell) surrounded by immature erythroid cells (progenitors), with more mature cells on the periphery of the island, ready to leave the bone marrow and enter the bloodstream. A hybrid model, coupling a continuous model (ordinary differential equations) describing intracellular regulation through competition of two key proteins, to a discrete spatial model describing cell-cell interactions, with growth factor diffusion in the medium described by a continuous model (partial differential equations), is proposed to investigate the role of the central macrophage in normal erythropoiesis. Intracellular competition of the two proteins leads the erythroid cell to either proliferation, differentiation, or death by apoptosis. This approach allows considering spatial aspects of erythropoiesis, involved for instance in the occurrence of cellular interactions or the access to external factors, as well as dynamics of intracellular and extracellular scales of this complex cellular process, accounting for stochasticity in cell cycle durations and orientation of the mitotic spindle. The analysis of the model shows a strong effect of the central macrophage on the stability of an erythroblastic island, when assuming the macrophage releases pro-survival cytokines. Even though it is not clear whether or not erythroblastic island stability must be required, investigation of the model concludes that stability improves responsiveness of the model, hence stressing out the potential relevance of the central macrophage in normal erythropoiesis.
We obtain solvability conditions for some elliptic equations involving non Fredholm operators with the methods of spectral theory and scattering theory for Schrodinger type operators. Though the Fredholm property is not satisfied, the solvability conditions are formulated in terms of orthogonality of the right-hand side to solutions of the homogeneous adjoint equation.
We study a reaction-diffusion equation with an integral term describing nonlocal consumption of resources. We show that a homogeneous equilibrium can lose its stability resulting in appearance of stationary spatial structures. It is a new mechanism of pattern formation in population dynamics that can explain emergence of biological species due to intra-specific competition and random mutations.Travelling waves connecting an unstable homogeneous equilibrium and a periodic in space stationary solution are studied numerically.