  We investigate the possibility to describe nuclear matter in an approach
constrained by the prominent features of quantum chromodynamics. We mapped the
in-medium nucleon self-energies of a point coupling relativistic mean-field
model on self-energies obtained in effective theories of QCD. More precisely,
the contributions to the nucleon self-energy have been separated into the short
range part, driven principally by the quark structure of the nucleon described
in a quark-diquark picture, and the long range part, dictated by pion dynamics
and determined using in-medium chiral perturbation theory. A saturation point,
although unrealistic, is obtained without any free parameter. A realistic
description of nuclear matter saturation properties has been obtained with the
inclusion of a small phenomenological correction term to the short range part
of the self-energy.
