Issue 2, 2015

Examining platelet adhesion via Stokes flow simulations and microfluidic experiments

Abstract

While critically important, the platelet function at the high shear rates typical of the microcirculation is relatively poorly understood. Using a large scale Stokes flow simulation, Zhao et al. recently showed that RBC-induced velocity fluctuations cause platelets to marginate into the RBC free near-wall region [Zhao et al., Physics of Fluids, 2012, 24, 011902]. We extend their work by investigating the dynamics of platelets in shear after margination. An overall platelet adhesion model is proposed in terms of a continuous time Markov process and the transition rates are established with numerical simulations involving platelet–wall adhesion. Hydrodynamic drag and Brownian forces are calculated with the boundary element method, while the RBC collisions are incorporated through an autoregressive process. Hookean springs with first order bond kinetics are used to model receptor–ligand bonds formed between the platelet and the wall. The simulations are compared with in vitro microfluidic experiments involving platelet adhesion to Von Willebrand Factor (VWF) coated surfaces.

Graphical abstract: Examining platelet adhesion via Stokes flow simulations and microfluidic experiments

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
03 Jul 2014
Accepted
29 Sep 2014
First published
10 Nov 2014

Soft Matter, 2015,11, 355-367

Author version available

Examining platelet adhesion via Stokes flow simulations and microfluidic experiments

S. Fitzgibbon, J. Cowman, A. J. Ricco, D. Kenny and E. S. G. Shaqfeh, Soft Matter, 2015, 11, 355 DOI: 10.1039/C4SM01450B

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements