Cortical bone fluid flow and species transport induced by an array of blood vessels

A mathematical model is developed which describes cortical bone fluid flow and species transport in the vicinity of several in-bone vessel canals. Model simulations are qualitatively consistent with experimental observations and indicate that solute contact with the surrounding bone is approximately 85 percent complete when vessel canal radii are larger than ~1 percent of the cortex´s thickness. In contrast, essentially no solute reaches the surrounding bone when radii are less than ~0.1 percent of the cortex´s thickness. Implications of this prediction are discussed