A computational study of leukocyte adhesion and its effect on flow pattern in microvessels

Three-dimensional computational modeling and simulation are presented on the adhesive rolling of deformable leukocytes over a P-selectin coated surface in parabolic shear flow in microchannels. The computational model is based on the immersed boundary method for cell deformation and Monte Carlo simulation for receptor/ligand interaction. The simulations are continued for at least 1 s of leukocyte rolling during which the instantaneous quantities such as cell deformation index, cell/substrate contact area, and fluid drag remain statistically stationary. The characteristic ‘stop-and-go’ motion of rolling leukocytes, and the ‘tear-drop’ shape of adherent leukocytes as observed in experiments are reproduced by the simulations. We first consider the role of cell deformation and cell concentration on rolling characteristics. We observe that compliant cells roll slower and more stably than rigid cells. Our simulations agree with previous in vivo observation that the hydrodynamic interactions between nearby leukocytes affect cell rolling, and that the rolling velocity decreases inversely with the separation distance, irrespective of cell deformability. We also find that cell deformation decreases, and the cells roll more stably with reduced velocity fluctuation, as the cell concentration is increased. However, the effect of nearby cells on the rolling characteristics is found to be more significant for rigid cells than compliant cells. We then address the effect of cell deformability and rolling velocity on the flow resistance due to, and the fluid drag on, adherent leukocytes. While several earlier computational works have addressed this problem, two key features of leukocyte adhesion, such as cell deformation and rolling, were often neglected. Our results suggest that neglecting cell deformability and rolling velocity may significantly overpredict the flow resistance and drag force. Increasing the cell concentration is shown to increase the flow resistance and reduce the fluid drag. The reduced drag then results in slower and more stable rolling of the leukocytes with longer pause time and shorter step distance. But the increase/decrease in the flow resistance/fluid drag due to the increase in the cell concentration is observed to be more significant in case of rigid cells than compliant cells.