Abstract
To delineate the influence of hemodynamic force on cell adhesion processes, model in vitro fluidic assays that mimic physiological conditions are commonly employed. Herein, we offer a framework for solution of the three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to estimate the forces resulting from fluid flow near a plane acting on a sphere that is either stationary or in free flow, and we compare these results to a widely used theoretical model that assumes Stokes flow with a constant shear rate. We find that while the full three-dimensional solutions using a parabolic velocity profile in CFD simulations yield similar translational velocities to those predicted by the theoretical method, the CFD approach results in approximately 50% larger rotational velocities over the wall shear stress range of 0.1–5.0 dynes cm−2. This leads to an approximately 25% difference in force and torque calculations between the two methods. When compared with experimental measurements of translational and rotational velocities of microspheres or cells perfused in microfluidic channels, the CFD simulations yield significantly less error. We propose that CFD modelling can provide better estimations of hemodynamic force levels acting on perfused microspheres and cells in flow fields through microfluidic devices used for cell adhesion dynamics analysis.
Highlights
To delineate the influence of hemodynamic force on cell adhesion processes, model in vitro fluidic assays that mimic physiological conditions are commonly employed
We offer a framework for solution of the three-dimensional Navier– Stokes equations using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to estimate the forces resulting from fluid flow near a plane acting on a sphere that is either stationary or in free flow, and we compare these results to a widely used theoretical model that assumes Stokes flow with a constant shear rate
We propose that CFD modelling can provide better estimations of hemodynamic force levels acting on perfused microspheres and cells in flow fields through microfluidic devices used for cell adhesion dynamics analysis
Summary
To delineate the influence of hemodynamic force on cell adhesion processes, model in vitro fluidic assays that mimic physiological conditions are commonly employed. Microfluidic approaches have allowed for the identification of important molecular mediators of pathological cell homing, such as in inflammation [3,4,5] and metastasis [6,7,8,9,10,11,12], but have enabled the study of how hemodynamic forces can affect circulating cell interactions with the vessel wall via these molecular mediators Using such model systems, the effects of increasing shear stress or shear rate on both the transport and reaction phases of cell recruitment have been demonstrated. These studies have suggested that force plays a crucial role in regulating the intracellular signalling processes that actuate these affinity and avidity changes with consequences in eventual cell extravasation [22,23]
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