A combined functional dorsal nerve model of the foot

Muhammad Z. Ul Haque; Peng Du; Leo K. Cheng; Muhammad Z. Ul Haque; Peng Du; Leo K. Cheng

doi:10.3934/mbe.2022433

Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering

2022, Volume 19, Issue 9: 9321-9334. doi: 10.3934/mbe.2022433

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Research article

A combined functional dorsal nerve model of the foot

1.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Salim Habib University, Karachi, Pakistan
2.
Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

Academic Editor: Adelia Sequeira

Received: 04 April 2022 Revised: 17 May 2022 Accepted: 25 May 2022 Published: 24 June 2022

The nerves in the skin surface of the foot are comprised of unmyelinated smaller somatic nerves and larger myelinated sensory nerves. Current diagnostic methods are unable to evaluate combined nerve conduction velocity (NCV) from both unmyelinated smaller somatic nerve (USSN) and myelinated larger nerves (MLN) respectively. Computational models may provide an alternative tool to determine the NCV of the combined nerve. Therefore, a combined functional dorsal nerve model (CFDNM) of the various dorsal nerves along with its associated nerve ending of the human foot is proposed and constructed. The combined dorsal nerve model consists of synthetic USSN (SUSSN) and dorsal MLN of the foot. The unmyelinated as well as myelinated electrophysiological nerve models were used to simulate selected SUSSN and MLN of the foot by injecting an external stimulus at the most distal part of SUSSN of the foot through the use of bidomain model. Results from our work demonstrated that the action potential propagated from the most distal part to proximal part of distinct dorsal nerves of the foot, e.g., the simulated NCV of the combined intermediate dorsal cutaneous nerve (IDCN) of the foot was 28.4 m s^-1. The CFDNM will provide a vital tool for diagnosis initially small fibre neuropathy (SFN) by computing NCV in the prospective studies.
- myelinated sensory nerve,
- unmyelinated somatic nerve,
- nerve conduction velocity,
- computational model,
- electrophysiological nerve model,
- action potential,
- small fibre neuropathy
Citation: Muhammad Z. Ul Haque, Peng Du, Leo K. Cheng. A combined functional dorsal nerve model of the foot[J]. Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering, 2022, 19(9): 9321-9334. doi: 10.3934/mbe.2022433

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Abstract

The nerves in the skin surface of the foot are comprised of unmyelinated smaller somatic nerves and larger myelinated sensory nerves. Current diagnostic methods are unable to evaluate combined nerve conduction velocity (NCV) from both unmyelinated smaller somatic nerve (USSN) and myelinated larger nerves (MLN) respectively. Computational models may provide an alternative tool to determine the NCV of the combined nerve. Therefore, a combined functional dorsal nerve model (CFDNM) of the various dorsal nerves along with its associated nerve ending of the human foot is proposed and constructed. The combined dorsal nerve model consists of synthetic USSN (SUSSN) and dorsal MLN of the foot. The unmyelinated as well as myelinated electrophysiological nerve models were used to simulate selected SUSSN and MLN of the foot by injecting an external stimulus at the most distal part of SUSSN of the foot through the use of bidomain model. Results from our work demonstrated that the action potential propagated from the most distal part to proximal part of distinct dorsal nerves of the foot, e.g., the simulated NCV of the combined intermediate dorsal cutaneous nerve (IDCN) of the foot was 28.4 m s^-1. The CFDNM will provide a vital tool for diagnosis initially small fibre neuropathy (SFN) by computing NCV in the prospective studies.

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