Stability and Bifurcation Analysis in Leukopoiesis Models with Two Delays

Abstract

We consider a nonlinear system of two equations, describing the evolution of a stem cell population and the resulting white blood cell population. Two delays appear in this model to describe the cell cycle duration of the stem cell population and the time required to produce white blood cells. We establish sufficient conditions for the asymptotic stability of the unique nontrivial positive steady state of the model by analyzing roots of a second degree exponential polynomial characteristic equation with delay-dependent coefficients. We also prove the existence of Hopf bifurcations which leads to periodic solutions.