Mathematical modeling of human brain physiological data.

Recently, a mathematical model of the basic physiological processes regulating the cerebral perfusion and oxygen supply was introduced [Jung et al., J. Math. Biol. 51, 491 (2005)]. Although this model correctly describes the interdependence of arterial blood pressure (ABP) and intracranial pressure (ICP), it fails badly when it comes to explaining certain abnormal correlations seen in about 80% of the recordings of ABP together with ICP and the partial oxygen pressure (TiPO(2)) of the neuronal tissue, taken at an intensive care unit during neuromonitoring of patients with a severe brain trauma. Such recordings occasionally show segments, where the mean arterial blood pressure is correlated with the partial oxygen pressure in tissue but anticorrelated with the intracranial pressure. The origin of such abnormal correlations has not been fully understood yet. Here, two extensions to the previous approach are proposed which can reproduce such abnormal correlations in simulations quantitatively. Furthermore, as the simulations are based on a mathematical model, additional insight into the physiological mechanisms from which such abnormal correlations originate can be gained.