TY  - JOUR
AU  - McWhirter, J. L.
AU  - Noguchi, H.
AU  - Gompper, G.
TI  - Flow-induced clustering and alignment of vesicles and red blood cells in microcapillaries
JO  - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
VL  - 106
SN  - 0027-8424
CY  - Washington, DC
PB  - Academy
M1  - PreJuSER-4229
SP  - 6039 - 6043
PY  - 2009
N1  - Stimulating discussions with U. B. Kaupp are gratefully acknowledged. This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft through the priority program SPP 1164, "Nano-and Microfluidics.''
AB  - The recent development of microfluidic devices allows the investigation and manipulation of individual liquid microdroplets, capsules, and cells. The collective behavior of several red blood cells (RBCs) or microcapsules in narrow capillaries determines their flow-induced morphology, arrangement, and effective viscosity. Of fundamental interest here is the relation between the flow behavior and the elasticity and deformability of these objects, their long-range hydrodynamic interactions in microchannels, and thermal membrane undulations. We study these mechanisms in an in silico model, which combines a particle-based mesoscale simulation technique for the fluid hydrodynamics with a triangulated-membrane model. The 2 essential control parameters are the volume fraction of RBCs (the tube hematocrit, H(T)), and the flow velocity. Our simulations show that already at very low H(T), the deformability of RBCs implies a flow-induced cluster formation above a threshold flow velocity. At higher H(T) values, we predict 3 distinct phases: one consisting of disordered biconcave-disk-shaped RBCs, another with parachute-shaped RBCs aligned in a single file, and a third with slipper-shaped RBCs arranged as 2 parallel interdigitated rows. The deformation-mediated clustering and the arrangements of RBCs and microcapsules are relevant for many potential applications in physics, biology, and medicine, such as blood diagnosis and cell sorting in microfluidic devices.
KW  - Capillaries
KW  - Computer Simulation
KW  - Elasticity
KW  - Erythrocytes
KW  - Hematocrit
KW  - Indicator Dilution Techniques
KW  - Liposomes
KW  - Microcirculation
KW  - Microfluidic Analytical Techniques
KW  - Pressure
KW  - Rheology
KW  - Liposomes (NLM Chemicals)
KW  - J (WoSType)
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - pmid:19369212
C2  - pmc:PMC2669370
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000265174600004
DO  - DOI:10.1073/pnas.0811484106
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/4229
ER  -