A closed-loop model of the ovine cardiovascular system

Sheep can be used as an important animal model for studying human cardiovascular and pulmonary disease. We develop a mathematical closed-loop model of the ovine cardiovascular system. A distributed approach is adopted in describing the systemic circulation, which is divided into the cerebral, coronary, foreleg, thoracic, abdominal, and hind limb circulations. A similar model is developed for the pulmonary circulation. The integrated model addresses problems of cardiovascular interaction, neural feedback control, and volume regulation among different organs. It facilitates a better understanding of the cardiovascular system in sheep and yields insights into cardiovascular and cardiopulmonary diseases. We apply the model to study cardiovascular interactions induced via orthostatic stress.