Homogenization and solvability in a chemotaxis-convection angiogenesis model with leakage boundary conditions (Q2660483)

The authors study the chemotaxis-convection model with leakage boundary conditions \[\begin{cases} u_t = u_{xx} - (uv_x)_x + (uw_x)_x, & \quad (x,t) \in \Omega \times (0,\infty), \\ v_t = v_{xx} + (vw_x)_x - v + u, & \quad (x,t) \in \Omega \times (0,\infty), \\ w_t = w_{xx} - w + u, & \quad (x,t) \in \Omega \times (0,\infty), \\ \frac{\partial u}{\partial \nu} - u \frac{\partial v}{\partial \nu} + u \frac{\partial w}{\partial \nu} =0, & \quad (x,t) \in \partial\Omega \times (0,\infty),\\ \frac{\partial v}{\partial \nu} + v \frac{\partial w}{\partial \nu} = -lv, & \quad (x,t) \in \partial\Omega \times (0,\infty),\\ \frac{\partial w}{\partial \nu} = - kw, & \quad (x,t) \in \partial\Omega \times (0,\infty), \end{cases} \] endowed with nonnegative initial conditions \(u_0, v_0, w_0 \in W^{1,\infty} (\Omega)\), where \(\Omega := (0,1) \subset \mathbb{R}\) and \(k\) and \(l\) are positive constants. The model was proposed in [\textit{M. E. Orme} and \textit{M. A. J. Chaplain}, IMA J. Math. Appl. Med. Biol. 13, No. 2, 73--98 (1996; Zbl 0849.92009)] as a model for the branching of capillary sprouts in tumor angiogenesis, where \(u\) and \(w\) denote the respective densities of the endothelial cells and the matrix, and \(v\) is the concentration of adhesive chemicals. The leakage boundary conditions are adapted by the authors as compared to the original model and describe that the endothelial cells stay within \(\Omega\), while there is some leakage of the adhesive chemicals and the matrix which may spread out beyond \(\Omega\). The authors prove the existence of a unique global classical solution such that all solution components are nonnegative and uniformly bounded. The proof relies on several a priori estimates which are combined appropriately. In particular, the system is transformed to a system with homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions and the transformed system is helpful to prove several bounds for first and second order spatial derivatives of the solution components.