A Petri net based model of oxidative stress in atherosclerosis

In this paper a Petri net based model of the process of oxidative stress in atherosclerosis is presented and analyzed. Model expressed in the language of Petri net theory have, on one hand, an intuitive graphical representation, and on the other hand their formal properties can be analyzed using rigorous mathematical methods. Moreover, the behavior of a net can be simulated what supports the process of model development and an interpretation of the results of the analysis. Both the analysis and the simulation can be supported by many freely available software tools. In the case of biological systems an analysis the t-invariants is especially important since they correspond to some elementary biological subprocesses. In this paper the results of such an analysis are presented. In particular, minimal t-invariants, MCT-sets and t-clusters are calculated, their biological meaning is determined and some biological conclusions are drawn.