No Arabic abstract
Using a multiscale blood flow solver, the complete diffusion tensor of nanoparticle (NP) in sheared cellular blood flow is calculated over a wide range of shear rate and haematocrit. In the short-time regime, NPs exhibit anomalous dispersive behaviors under high shear and high haematocrit due to the transient elongation and alignment of the red blood cells (RBCs). In the long-time regime, the NP diffusion tensor features high anisotropy. Particularly, there exists a critical shear rate ($sim$100 $s^{-1}$) around which the shear-rate dependence of the diffusivity tensor changes from linear to nonlinear scale. Above the critical shear rate, the cross-stream diffusivity terms vary sublinearly with shear rate, while the longitudinal term varies superlinearly. The dependence on haematocrit is linear in general except at high shear rates, where a sublinear scale is found for the vorticity term and a quadratic scale for the longitudinal term. Through analysis of the suspension microstructure and numerical experiments, the nonlinear hemorheological dependence of the NP diffusion tensor is attributed to the streamwise elongation and cross-stream contraction of RBCs under high shear, quantified by a Capillary number. The RBC size is shown to be the characteristic length scale affecting the RBC-enhanced shear-induced diffusion (RESID), while the NP size at submicron exhibits negligible influence on the RESID. Based on the observed scaling behaviors, empirical correlations are proposed to bridge the NP diffusion tensor to specific shear rate and haematocrit. The characterized NP diffusion tensor provides a constitutive relation that can lead to more effective continuum models to tackle large-scale NP biotransport applications.
The biotransport of the intravascular nanoparticle (NP) is influenced by both the complex cellular flow environment and the NP characteristics. Being able to computationally simulate such intricate transport phenomenon with high efficiency is of far-reaching significance to the development of nanotherapeutics, yet challenging due to large length-scale discrepancies between NP and red blood cell (RBC) as well as the complexity of NP dynamics. Recently, a lattice-Boltzmann (LB) based multiscale simulation method has been developed to capture both NP scale and cellular level transport phenomenon at high computational efficiency. The basic components of this method include the LB treatment for the fluid phase, a spectrin-link method for RBCs, and a Langevin dynamics (LD) approach to capturing the motion of the suspended NPs. Comprehensive two-way coupling schemes are established to capture accurate interactions between each component. The accuracy and robustness of the LB-LD coupling method are demonstrated through the relaxation of a single NP with initial momentum and self-diffusion of NPs. This approach is then applied to study the migration of NPs in a capillary vessel under physiological conditions. It is shown that Brownian motion is most significant for the NP distribution in capillary vessels. For 1~100 nm particles, the Brownian diffusion is the dominant radial diffusive mechanism compared to the RBC-enhanced diffusion. For ~500 nm particles, the Brownian diffusion and RBC-enhanced diffusion are comparable drivers for the particle radial diffusion process.
We use coarse grained molecular dynamics simulations to investigate diffusion properties of sheared lipid membranes with embedded transmembrane proteins. In membranes without proteins, we find normal in-plane diffusion of lipids in all flow conditions. Protein embedded membranes behave quite differently: by imposing a simple shear flow and sliding the monolayers of the membrane over each other, the motion of protein clusters becomes strongly superdiffusive in the shear direction. In such a circumstance, subdiffusion regime is predominant perpendicular to the flow. We show that superdiffusion is a result of accelerated chaotic motions of protein--lipid complexes within the membrane voids, which are generated by hydrophobic mismatch or the transport of lipids by proteins.
A finite element analysis of flows of an Oldroyd-B fluid is developed, to simulate blood flow in an arteriovenous fistula. The model uses a combination of a standard conforming finite element approximation for the momentum equation, and the discontinuous Galerkin method, with upwinding, for the equation governing the evolution of the extra stress. The model is verified for a range of values of Weissenberg number We by applying it to the benchmark problem of flow past a cylinder in a channel. The main application is to flow in an arteriovenous fistula, the geometry of which is based on patient-specific data. Results for Oldroyd-B fluids are compared with those for a Newtonian fluid as well as with data from patient-specific velocity MRI scans. Features such as streamlines and regions of recirculation are similar across a range of values of We and the Newtonian case. There is however a strong dependence of maximum wall shear stress on We, with values for the viscoelastic fluid in all cases being higher than that for the Newtonian case.
We present experiments on RBCs that flow through microcapillaries under physiological conditions. We show that the RBC clusters form as a subtle imbrication between hydrodynamics interaction and adhesion forces because of plasma proteins. Clusters form along the capillaries and macromolecule-induced adhesion contribute to their stability. However, at high yet physiological flow velocities, shear stresses overcome part of the adhesion forces, and cluster stabilization due to hydrodynamics becomes stronger. For the case of pure hydrodynamic interaction, cell-to-cell distances have a pronounced bimodal distribution. Our 2D-numerical simulations on vesicles captures the transition between adhesive and non-adhesive clusters at different flow velocities.
The microvascular networks in the body of vertebrates consist of the smallest vessels such as arterioles, capillaries, and venules. The flow of RBCs through these networks ensures the gas exchange in as well as the transport of nutrients to the tissues. Any alterations in this blood flow may have severe implications on the health state. Since the vessels in these networks obey dimensions similar to the diameter of RBCs, dynamic effects on the cellular scale play a key role. The steady progression in the numerical modeling of RBCs, even in complex networks, has led to novel findings in the field of hemodynamics, especially concerning the impact and the dynamics of lingering events, when a cell meets a branch of the network. However, these results are yet to be matched by a detailed analysis of the lingering experiments in vivo. To quantify this lingering effect in in vivo experiments, this study analyzes branching vessels in the microvasculature of Syrian golden hamsters via intravital microscopy and the use of an implanted dorsal skinfold chamber. It also presents a detailed analysis of these lingering effects of cells at the apex of bifurcating vessels, affecting the temporal distribution of cell-free areas of blood flow in the branches, even causing a partial blockage in severe cases.