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Perfusable Vascular Network with a Tissue Model in a Microfluidic Device
Published on: April 4, 2018
Numerical simulation of blood flow through microvascular capillary networks
1Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA. cpozrikidis@ecs.umass.edu
Bulletin of Mathematical Biology
|March 10, 2009
Summary
Red blood cells regulate blood flow in microvascular networks by adjusting viscosity. This individual cell tracking reveals hematocrit variations missed by continuum models.
Area of Science:
- Biophysics
- Computational Biology
- Fluid Dynamics
Background:
- Understanding blood flow in microvascular networks is crucial for diagnosing and treating various diseases.
- Conventional models often treat blood as a continuum, potentially oversimplifying complex cellular interactions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and implement a numerical method for simulating blood flow in branching microvascular networks.
- To investigate the role of individual red blood cell motion and its impact on flow dynamics and hematocrit distribution.
Main Methods:
- A numerical method was employed to track individual red blood cells through a branching capillary network.
- Poiseuille's law was adapted using an effective viscosity dependent on cell presence, informed by prior studies on red blood cell motion.
- Simulations were conducted on a tree-like network with bifurcating segments.
Main Results:
- The probability of directional cell motion at bifurcations significantly affects cell residence time and hematocrit scattering.
- Red blood cells dynamically regulate flow rate by altering effective viscosity in response to flow conditions.
- Continuum models underestimate hematocrit variance compared to individual cell-based simulations.
Conclusions:
- Individual red blood cell behavior is critical for accurate microvascular blood flow modeling.
- The proposed numerical method provides a more realistic representation of hematocrit distribution in vascular trees.
- Findings highlight the importance of cellular dynamics in microcirculation and suggest limitations of continuum approaches.
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