Modeling the Effect of Red Blood Cells Deformability on Blood Flow Conditions in Human Carotid Artery Bifurcation

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to predict the effect of impaired red blood cells (RBCs) deformability on blood flow conditions in human carotid artery bifurcation. First, a blood viscosity model is developed that predicts the steady-state blood viscosity as a function of shear rate, plasma viscosity, and mechanical (and geometrical) properties of RBC's. Viscosity model is developed by modifying the well-known Krieger and Dougherty equation for monodisperse suspensions by using the dimensional analysis approach. With the approach, we manage to account for the microscopic properties of RBC's, such as their deformability, in the macroscopic behavior of blood via blood viscosity. In the second part of the paper, the deduced viscosity model is used to numerically predict blood flow conditions in human carotid artery bifurcation. Simulations are performed for different values of RBC's deformability and analyzed by investigating parameters, such as the temporal mean wall shear stress (WSS), oscillatory shear index (OSI), and mean temporal gradient of WSS. The analyses show that the decrease of RBC's deformability decrease the regions of low WSS (i.e., sites known to be prevalent at atherosclerosis-prone regions); increase, in average, the value of WSS along the artery; and decrease the areas of high OSI. These observations provide an insight into the influence of blood's microscopic properties, such as the deformability of RBC's, on hemodynamics in larger arteries and their influence on parameters that are known to play a role in the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis.

Computational studies of comparative and cumulative effects of turbulence, fluid–structure interactions, and uniform magnetic fields on pulsatile non-Newtonian flow in a patient-specific carotid artery

“…These atherogenic phenotypes are associated with high OSI in the arteries [57]. As a general result, it can be argued that increased intensity of the magnetic field decreases the size of the low WSS area (the area susceptible to the diseases) and increases the average amount of WSS along the artery, which is consistent with the studies of other researchers [23].…”

“…The results also show that the maximum OSI areas are consistent with the low WSS [61,62]. It is stated that maximum OSI value is the same in both Newtonian and non-Newtonian simulations [23], indicating that the OSI-related results of the present study can also be generalized to the Newtonian state.…”

“…OSI is an effective parameter in determining the average time of separation and reattachment of the flow, which is a number between 0 and 0.5 [36]. The larger OSI values represent regions where changes in flow direction occur a lot; and smaller OSI values are related to the lack of WSS cyclic changes [23]. For pure where T is the period of cardiac cycle and s is the WSS.…”

“…For stenosed arteries, it has been shown that flow velocity is affected by magnetic field in stenosed region and connecting point after stenosis [22]. Increasing the intensity of the magnetic field increases the average value of WSS along the vessel [23]. Also, one of the most notable research areas related to application of magnetic field in vascular engineering is magnetic drug targeting (MDT).…”

Biomechanical properties of red blood cells infected by Plasmodium berghei ANKA

“…Malaria-infected RBCs, particularly during the late stages of parasite development, lose their deformability, which can cause capillary blockage (Dondorp, Kager, Vreeken, & White, 2002;Shelby, John, Karthikeyan, Pradipsinh, & Daniel, 2003). In addition, the reduced RBC deformability results in reduced blood flow at low and high shear rates (Shin, Yunhee, Park, & Suh, 2005;Urevc, Žun, Brumen, & Štok, 2017). Therefore, the characterization of the biomechanical properties of malaria-infected RBCs is crucial to understand the underlying mechanisms of both malaria-infected RBCs and overall malaria pathophysiology.…”