Mathematical Modeling of Respiratory System Mechanics in the Newborn Lamb

• Published in: Acta biotheoretica Vol. 61; no. 1; pp. 91 - 107
• Main Authors: Le Rolle, Virginie, Samson, Nathalie, Praud, Jean-Paul, Hernández, Alfredo I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.03.2013; Springer Nature B.V; Springer Verlag
• Subjects: Animals; Animals, Newborn; Animals, Newborn - physiology; Bioengineering; Computer Science; Education; Engineering Sciences; Evolutionary Biology; Life Sciences; Models, Biological; Philosophy; Philosophy of Biology; Regular Article; Respiratory Mechanics; Sheep; Signal and Image processing; Animal experimentation; Model; Sensitivity analysis; Parameter identification
• ISSN: 0001-5342; 1572-8358; 1572-8358
• DOI: 10.1007/s10441-013-9175-7

In this paper, a mathematical model of the respiratory mechanics is used to reproduce experimental signal waveforms acquired from three newborn lambs. As the main challenge is to determine specific lamb parameters, a sensitivity analysis has been realized to find the most influent parameters, which are identified using an evolutionary algorithm. Results show a close match between experimental and simulated pressure and flow waveforms obtained during spontaneous ventilation and pleural pressure variations acquired during the application of positive pressure, since root mean square errors equal to 0.0119, 0.0052 and 0.0094. The identified parameters were discussed in light of previous knowledge of respiratory mechanics in the newborn.