Blood-plasma separation in Y-shaped bifurcating microfluidic channels: a dissipative particle dynamics simulation...

Area of Science:

• Biophysics
• Computational fluid dynamics
• Microfluidics

Background:

• Red blood cell (RBC) behavior in microcirculation is crucial for understanding blood flow.
• Microfluidic devices offer a platform to study cellular dynamics under controlled conditions.
• Simulating RBCs requires accurate models that capture their unique mechanical properties.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the motion of red blood cells (RBCs) in a Y-shaped bifurcating microfluidic channel.
• To analyze plasma skimming and the all-or-nothing phenomenon in healthy and diseased blood.
• To explore the influence of hematocrit and cell properties on blood-plasma separation.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a validated low-dimensional RBC model based on dissipative particle dynamics.
• Represented RBCs as torus-like rings of colloidal particles for efficient simulation.
• Implemented adaptive no-slip wall boundary conditions for hydrodynamic flow modeling.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated efficient simulation of blood flow across a range of hematocrits.
• Quantified plasma skimming and cell-free layer formation in daughter branches.
• Observed that malaria-infected RBCs preferentially enter low flow-rate branches, affecting separation.

Conclusions:

• The feed hematocrit significantly influences blood-plasma separation efficiency.
• Malaria-infected RBCs exhibit altered flow dynamics compared to healthy RBCs.
• Simulation results align with experimental findings and theoretical predictions, validating the model.