Computational modeling of cell adhesion and movement using a continuum-kinetics approach |
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Authors: | N'Dri N A Shyy W Tran-Son-Tay R |
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Affiliation: | Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA. |
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Abstract: | Adhesion of leukocytes to substrate involves the coupling of disparate length and timescales between molecular mechanics and macroscopic transport, and existing models of cell adhesion do not use full cellular information. To address these challenges, a multiscale computational approach for studying the adhesion of a cell on a substrate is developed and assessed. The cellular level model consists of a continuum representation of the field equations and a moving boundary tracking capability to allow the cell to change its shape continuously. At the receptor-ligand level, a bond molecule is mechanically represented by a spring. Communication between the macro/micro- and nanoscale models is facilitated interactively during the computation. The computational model is assessed using an adherent cell, rolling and deforming along the vessel wall under imposed shear flows. Using this approach, we first confirm existing numerical and experimental results. In this study, the intracellular viscosity and interfacial tension are found to directly affect the rolling of a cell. Our results also show that the presence of a nucleus increases the bond lifetime, and decreases the cell rolling velocity. Furthermore, it is found that a cell with a larger diameter rolls faster, and decreases the bond lifetime. This study shows that cell rheological properties have significant effects on the adhesion process contrary to what has been hypothesized in most literature. |
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Keywords: | (nomenclature) acell, area of the cell fs, slippage constant fb, force of a bond Fb, total force of bonds kfo, equilibrium forward reaction rate kf, forward reaction rate kro, equilibrium reverse reaction rate kr, reverse reaction rate KbT, thermal energy (kb = Boltzmann constant, T = temperature) Nb, density of a bond Nbo, initial bond density Nl, ligand density Nr, receptor density Rc, cell radius Rt, number of receptors U, inlet velocity Xm, current position of a bond on the membrane σ, spring constant σts, transition spring constant λ, equilibrium length of a bond γ, cell surface tension |
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