THEORETICAL AND APPLIED MECHANICS

TEORIJSKA I PRIMENJENA MEHANIKA  2005 Vol.32 (1), pp.21-38

Summary: 

A.Grillo, G.Zingali, S.Federico,
W.Herzog, G.Giaquinta

The role of material inhomogeneities in biological growth

We investigate the influence of the material inhomogeneities that are generated by anisotropic growth on the source of mass acting within a growing living tissue. In order to do that, we need to study the interaction between these material inhomogeneities and the chemical agents dissolved within the tissue. For this purpose, we use some ideas and methods from Condensed Matter Physics (e.g., the Path Integral technique employed in modelling Brownian processes) and apply them to the Continuum Mechanics description of volumetric Growth. We believe that this approach may provide new physical insight into the interactions between the macroscopic dynamics of living systems and the evolution of the subsystems which activate biological processes.