Bifurcation analysis of a free boundary model of the atherosclerotic plaque formation associated with the cholesterol ratio.

The low-density lipoprotein (LDL)/high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol ratio has been shown to have a high correlation with the cardiovascular risk assessment. Is it possible to quantify the correlation mathematically? In this paper, we develop a bifurcation analysis for a mathematical model of the plaque formation with a free boundary in the early stage of atherosclerosis. This bifurcation analysis, to the ratio of LDL/HDL, is based on explicit formulations of radially symmetric steady-state solutions. By performing the perturbation analysis to these solutions, we establish the existence of bifurcation branches and derive a theoretical condition that a bifurcation occurs for different modes. We also analyze the stability of radially symmetric steady-state solutions and conduct numerical simulations to verify all theoretical results.