In-vitro coupled left atrioventricular-aortic hemodynamic simulator for systemic circulation*

We developed a physiologically accurate in-vitro hydraulic setup that mimics the hemodynamic of coupled atrioventricular-vascular system. This unique experimental simulator has three major components: 1) the aortic system, 2) left ventricle (LV), and 3) left atrium (LA). The aortic system is a human scale artificial aorta with the aortic arch, main branches of the aorta, and cerebral vessels. The LV simulator is composed of a thin-walled transparent silicone ventricle-like sac, installed in a container connected to a programmable piston-in-cylinder pump that generates contraction patterns for the LV. The LA is also a thin-walled transparent silicone sac in a different container which can operate on both passive and active (contraction) modes. LV contractility, LV compliance, preload, cardiac output, heart rate, total arterial resistance, and total arterial compliance are easily controlled in this setup. Our system generates physiologically accurate pressure and flow waveforms in the LV, LA, cerebral vessels, and various locations along the aorta. Our setup can be used for studying LV-arterial coupling in which both LV and aorta affect each other. This system will be very useful in understanding underlying hemodynamics mechanisms of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.