Key result
An allometric scaling law based on elastohydrodynamic resonance of a fluid-loaded soft shell yielded optimum ejection fractions of 35%-40% and is consistent with experimental heart rate measurements.
Why the study?
A mechanistic physical basis for how heart rate and metabolism scale with organism size remained to be established.
Proposes an allometric scaling law for heart rate based on elastohydrodynamic resonance, providing a physical rationale for heart rate and metabolism scaling with organism size.
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Biophysical model predicts optimal ejection fraction range; leaves open validation in mammalian physiology and clinical translation.
Animal hearts are soft shells that actively pump blood to oxygenate tissues. Here, we propose an allometric scaling law for the heart rate based on the idea of elastohydrodynamic resonance of a fluid-loaded soft active elastic shell that buckles and contracts axially when twisted periodically. We show that this picture is consistent with numerical simulations of soft cylindrical shells that twist-buckle while pumping a viscous fluid, yielding optimum ejection fractions of 35%-40% when driven resonantly. Our scaling law is consistent with experimental measurements of heart rates over 2 orders of magnitude, and provides a mechanistic basis for how metabolism scales with organism size. In addition to providing a physical rationale for the heart rate and metabolism of an organism, our results suggest a simple design principle for soft fluidic pumps.
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Virot et al. (2020) studied this question. An allometric scaling law based on elastohydrodynamic resonance of a fluid-loaded soft shell yielded optimum ejection fractions of 35%-40% and is consistent with experimental heart rate measurements.
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