Study on particle presentations of blood cells and the plasma in microvascular blood flow

To study the microcirculation for the analysis of thrombosis and haemolytic anaemia, fluid (plasma) flow and the motion of cellular components such as the red blood cell (RBC) and platelets must be included in the model. Vascular wall should also be included when the mechanical and biological interactions between the wall and cells are of concern. In the microvascular region, the cells and the plasma must be separately modeled because the length scale of the cellular components is comparable, sometimes larger, than the vascular diameter. To model the mechanical interactions between the cell and the wall, including their collisions, highly deformable nature of the cellular membrane must be represented in the model. In this study, a new computer simulation using particle method was proposed to analyze microscopic behavior of blood flow. A simulation region including plasma, red blood cells (RBCs) and platelets was modeled by an assembly of discrete particles. The proposed method was applied to the motion and deformation of single RBC and multiple RBCs, and the thrombogenesis process due to platelet aggregation.