Global existence of weak solutions to a tissue regeneration model

Abstract

We study a cross-diffusion model for tissue regeneration which involves the dynamics of human mesenchymal stem cells interacting with chondrocytes in a medium containing a differentiation factor. The latter acts as a chemoattractant for the chondrocytes and influences the (de)differentiation of both cell phenotypes. The stem cells perform haptotaxis towards extracellular matrix expressed by the chondrocytes and degraded by themselves. Cartilage production as part of the extracellular matrix is ensured by condrocytes. The growth factor is provided periodically, to maintain the cell dynamics. We provide a proof for the global existence of weak solutions to this model, which is a simplified version of a more complex setting deduced in \cite{surulescu_AMM}.