Immersed boundary simulations of cell-cell interactions in whole blood

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel meshless simulation method using radial basis functions to model cell interactions in blood, revealing the critical role of red blood cells in platelet motion and vascular behavior.

Contribution

The authors develop a high-order meshless reconstruction technique for immersed boundary simulations, enabling detailed study of cell interactions in blood flow.

Findings

Red blood cells significantly influence platelet motion.

Vessel wall geometry has minimal effect when RBCs are present.

Identification of a new platelet movement called 'unicycling'.

Abstract

We present a new method for the geometric reconstruction of elastic surfaces simulated by the immersed boundary method with the goal of simulating the motion and interactions of cells in whole blood. Our method uses parameter-free radial basis functions for high-order meshless parametric reconstruction of point clouds and the elastic force computations required by the immersed boundary method. This numerical framework allows us to consider the effect of endothelial geometry and red blood cell motion on the motion of platelets. We find red blood cells to be crucial for understanding the motion of platelets, to the point that the geometry of the vessel wall has a negligible effect in the presence of RBCs. We describe certain interactions that force the platelets to remain near the endothelium for extended periods, including a novel platelet motion that can be seen only in 3-dimensional simulations that we term "unicycling." We also observe red blood cell-mediated interactions between platelets and the endothelium for which the platelet has reduced speed. We suggest that these behaviors serve as mechanisms that allow platelets to better maintain vascular integrity.