Design and construction of mock blood circulatory system with capability to simulate physiological pulsatile flow and pressure in Aorta

Mock circulation systems are necessary for in vitro experiments and development of the ventricular assist devices, heart valves, total artificial hearts, artificial lungs, vascular grafts and intra-aortic balloon pumps. Tissue engineering of heart valves and other preliminary studies on the cardiovascular system can also achieve with mock circulation systems. One of the major parts of these systems is generating of pulsatile flows like heart. In this study a mock circulation system with ability of physiological pressure and flow simulation in both healthy and diseases heart has been designed and manufactured. This setup can produce pressure and flow pulse by using a positive displacement pump with programing of movement pattern of stepper motor. This pump was manufactured after designing by Solid-works software for using in the mock circulation system. For testing this setup, several experiments with different values of peripheral resistance and arterial compliance and changing the pattern of the stepper motor have been performed. The results show modifying the pattern of the stepper motor from uniform speed to variable speed in one cycle (360 degree), As well as changing in arterial compliance and peripheral resistance, can produce waveform of physiological pressure and flow. The results confirm the reliable performance of this system in simulating physiological conditions. The designed system has the software capability to generate different waveforms. Therefore, in addition to the mentioned applications, it can be used in biofluid labs and even for cellular bioreactors.