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Multiphysics of Prionlike Diseases: Progression and Atrophy

Johannes Weickenmeier, Ellen Kuhl, and Alain Goriely
Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 158101 – Published 12 October 2018
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Abstract

Many neurodegenerative diseases are related to the propagation and accumulation of toxic proteins throughout the brain. The lesions created by aggregates of these toxic proteins further lead to cell death and accelerated tissue atrophy. A striking feature of some of these diseases is their characteristic pattern and evolution, leading to well-codified disease stages visible to neuropathology and associated with various cognitive deficits and pathologies. Here, we simulate the anisotropic propagation and accumulation of toxic proteins in full brain geometry. We show that the same model with different initial seeding zones reproduces the characteristic evolution of different prionlike diseases. We also recover the expected evolution of the total toxic protein load. Finally, we couple our transport model to a mechanical atrophy model to obtain the typical degeneration patterns found in neurodegenerative diseases.

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  • Received 5 April 2018
  • Revised 21 July 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.158101

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

  1. Physical Systems
Physics of Living Systems

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A Physical Model for Neurodegenerative Disease

Published 12 October 2018

Computer simulations of the diffusion and aggregation of harmful proteins in the brain reproduce the pattern of damage seen in several neurodegenerative diseases.

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Authors & Affiliations

Johannes Weickenmeier1, Ellen Kuhl2, and Alain Goriely3

  • 1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, USA
  • 2Living Matter Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
  • 3Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX2 6GG, United Kingdom

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Issue

Vol. 121, Iss. 15 — 12 October 2018

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