A model of a radially expanding and contracting lymphangion

Abstract

The lymphatic system is an extensive vascular network featuring valves and contractile walls that pump interstitial fluid and plasma proteins back to the main circulation. Immune function also relies on the lymphatic system's ability to transport white blood cells. Failure to drain and pump this excess fluid results in edema characterized by fluid retention and swelling of limbs. It is, therefore, important to understand the mechanisms of fluid transport and pumping of lymphatic vessels. Unfortunately, there are very few studies in this area, most of which assume Poiseuille flow conditions. In vivo observations reveal that these vessels contract strongly, with diameter changes of the order of magnitude of the diameter itself over a cycle that lasts typically 2–3s. The radial velocity of the contracting vessel is on the order of the axial fluid velocity, suggesting that modeling flow in these vessels with a Poiseuille model is inappropriate. In this paper, we describe a model of a radially expanding and contracting lymphatic vessel and investigate the validity of assuming Poiseuille flow to estimate wall shear stress, which is presumably important for lymphatic endothelial cell mechanotransduction. Three different wall motions, periodic sinusoidal, skewed sinusoidal and physiologic wall motions, were investigated with steady and unsteady parabolic inlet velocities. Despite high radial velocities resulting from the wall motion, wall shear stress values were within 4% of quasi-static Poiseuille values. Therefore, Poiseuille flow is valid for the estimation of wall shear stress for the majority of the lymphangion contractile cycle.