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Updated: Oct 15, 2025

In Vitro Microfluidic Disease Model to Study Whole Blood-Endothelial Interactions and Blood Clot Dynamics in Real-Time
Published on: May 24, 2020
Thrombosis and Hemodynamics: external and intrathrombus gradients
Noelia Grande Gutiérrez1, Kaushik N Shankar1, Talid Sinno1
1Institute for Medicine and Engineering, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, 1024 Vagelos Research Laboratory, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104.
Abstract:
Distinct from dilute, isotropic, and homogeneous reaction systems typically used in laboratory kinetic assays, blood is concentrated, two-phase, flowing, and highly anisotropic when clotting on a surface. This review focuses on spatial gradients that are generated and can dictate thrombus structure and function. Novel experimental and computational tools have recently emerged to explore reaction-transport coupling during clotting. Multiscale simulations help bridge tissue length scales (the coronary arteries) to millimeter scales of a growing clot to the microscopic scale of single-cell signaling and adhesion. Microfluidic devices help create and control pathological velocity profiles, albeit at a low Reynolds number. Since rate processes and force loading are often coupled, this review highlights prevailing convective-diffusive transport physics that modulate cellular and molecular processes during thrombus formation.
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