The mathematics and mechanics of biological growth (Q332149)

The monograph is published as Volume 45 of Springer series: Interdisciplinary Applied Mathematics. The monograph is appropriate for a broad audience of doctoral students, young scientists and established scholars working in diverse areas such as biomechanics, biomedical engineering, theoretical biology, biophysics and related interdisciplinary fields. The book covers a number of biological problems viewed from the perspective of growth processes. Thereby the concept of biological growth is meant in the aspects of mass/volume/density change in time, remodeling and morphogenesis of tissues and organs. The book is structured into five parts as follows. Part I ``Introduction: where it all starts'' introduces key concept of biological growth. Here basic aspects and classifications of biological growth processes are given together with comments on historical developments and illustrative examples. Key concepts relating biological growth to physics and mechanics concepts are introduced. Part 1 consists of three chapters. Chapter 1 entitled ``Basic aspects of growth'' is devoted to: classification (tip, accretive and volumetric growth), scaling of growth, relative growth, and kinematics of growth. Chapter 2 ``Mechanics and growth'' includes the topics of the relation between growth and stress, the theory of morpho-elasticity, historical comments and a survey on reviews related to growth modeling. Chapter 3 ``Discrete computational models'' is devoted to discrete on- and off-lattice approaches to growth modeling (such as finite cellular automata). Part II ``Filament growth: a one-dimensional theory'' introduces the mechanical concepts of elasticity, viscoelasticity and plasticity. The relation between growth processes and mechanical concepts is emphasized and clearly described. Part II includes three chapters (4--6). Chapter 4 ``Growing on a line'' focuses on the simplest instances of growth by restricting deformations along a line. A general theory of growth for filamentary structures is presented by extending the theory of elastic rods to include the effects of growth and remodeling. Chapter 5 ``Elastic rods'' discusses the kinematics of curves and rods, as well as the mechanical laws of elastic rods. Chapter 6 ``Morphoelastic rods'' discusses the kinematics and mechanics of a growing rod. Throughout Part II, the author's ideas are used to study and model diverse biological systems, mostly from the field of plant physiology. Part III ``Surface growth: a two-dimensional theory'' further generalizes the author's concepts in two-dimensional geometries. Applications to accretive growth instances such as seashells and microorganisms exhibiting tip growth are presented. Part III includes four chapters (7--10). Chapter 7 focuses on the topic of accretive growth and the self-similarity principle with application to seashells. Chapter 8 concentrates on the mechanical properties of elastic membranes and shells. Chapter 9 treats the growing of morpho-elastic membranes with application to various case studies such as modeling of microbial tip growth, bacterial filaments, fungi and root hairs. The processes of hyphal growth, lysis and beading are examined. Chapter 10 considers the growing of morpho-elastic plates. The hypothesis on the relation between stress and growth is introduced and discussed in detail. Most of the discussion of two-dimensional elastic surfaces in Part III is oriented to axisymmetric membranes and shells. Part IV ``Volumetric growth: a three-dimensional theory'' presents a general theory of biological growth for three-dimensional bodies. The theory is based on the twin concept of evolving reference configuration and the multiplicative decomposition of the deformation gradient. Part IV starts with Chapter 11 entitled ``Nonlinear elasticity''. Here the classic theory of nonlinear elasticity in the terminology of large deformations mechanics is presented. An extensive discussion on the kinematics of growth viewed as evolving configurations is presented in Chapter 12 ``The kinematics of growth''. It is followed by a discussion on growth laws (balance of mass, momenta and energy) in Chapter 13 ``Balance laws''. Chapter 14 ``Evolution laws and stability'' is concerned with the dynamics of biological growth. Considered are various phenomena such as discreteness of growth steps, homeostatic stress, homogeneous deformations, fiber remodeling in tension, and growth induced instability. The two last chapters (15 and 16) are devoted to examples and applications in three-dimensional bodies. Chapter 15 ``Growing spheres'' considers spherical geometries. More specifically, the kinematics and stresses in a growing sphere are analyzed. Various phenomena are discussed: limit-point instability and inflation jumps, singularities in growing solid spheres, cavitation induced by tensile loading and by growing, instability due to anisotropic and differential growth, instability in a shrinking shell as well as of a shell growing inside a medium. Chapter 16 ``Growing cylinders'' is devoted to the kinematics and modeling of cylindrical growing bodies. A variety of applications is presented: cavitation in plants, bifurcation and buckling in growing cylinders, tissue tension in plants, the buckling of arteries, circumferential buckling and mucosal folding, asthma and airway remodeling, residual stress through fiber contraction, the spiral growth of phycomyces, etc. Part V ``Conclusion: where it does not end'' presents a list of open problems in active interdisciplinary research fields such as: rheology and regulation of growth and growth size, the elusive growth law, the relation between growth and diffusion, the mathematical theory of accretive growth, the influence of active forces, stresses and strains on biological growth. The discussed topics are challenges that will certainly motivate other researchers in their attempts to move forward the outlined general theory of biological growth from the perspective of (bio-)mechanics. The book by Alain Goriely is a result of a long-lasting effort of its author and his many collaborators. The monograph book can be briefly described as an initial step in constructing a general mechanical theory of growing and evolving biological systems. The book is very informative, it is written in an easy readable and intriguing way. It has a large reference list of 1369 bibliographic descriptions and a carefully prepared index. The book should be helpful for researchers who work in the multidisciplinary fields of theoretical biology, biomechanics, biomedical engineering, biophysics and applied mathematics.