Hydrodynamic repulsion of spheroidal microparticles from micro-rough surfaces

Biomechanical activation of blood platelets via adhesion to von Willebrand factor studied with mesoscopic simulations

Platelet adhesion and activation are essential initial processes of arterial and microvascular hemostasis, where high hydrodynamic forces from the bloodflow impede coagulation. The process relies on von Willebrand factor (VWF)-a linear multimeric protein of blood plasma plays a pivotal role in mechanochemical regulation of shear-induced platelet aggregation (SIPA). Adhesive interactions between VWF and glycoprotein receptors GPIb are crucial for platelet recruitment under high shear stress in fluid. Recent advances in experimental studies revealed that mechanical tension on the extracellular part of GPIb may trigger a cascade of biochemical reactions in platelets leading to activation of integrins [Formula: see text] (also known as GPIIb/IIIa) and strengthening of the adhesion. The present paper is aimed at investigation of this process by three-dimensional computer simulations of platelet adhesion to surface-grafted VWF multimers in pressure-driven flow of platelet-rich plasma. The simulations demonstrate that GPIb-mediated mechanotransduction is a feasible way of platelet activation and stabilization of platelet aggregates under high shear stress. Quantitative understanding of mechanochemical processes involved in SIPA would potentially promote the discovery of new anti-platelet medication and the development of multiscale numerical models of platelet thrombosis and hemostasis.

PyOIF: Computational tool for modelling of multi-cell flows in complex geometries

A user ready, well documented software package PyOIF contains an implementation of a robust validated computational model for cell flow modelling. The software is capable of simulating processes involving biological cells immersed in a fluid. The examples of such processes are flows in microfluidic channels with numerous applications such as cell sorting, rare cell isolation or flow fractionation. Besides the typical usage of such computational model in the design process of microfluidic devices, PyOIF has been used in the computer-aided discovery involving mechanical properties of cell membranes. With this software, single cell, many cell, as well as dense cell suspensions can be simulated. Many cell simulations include cell-cell interactions and analyse their effect on the cells. PyOIF can be used to test the influence of mechanical properties of the membrane in flows and in membrane-membrane interactions. Dense suspensions may be used to study the effect of cell volume fraction on macroscopic phenomena such as cell-free layer, apparent suspension viscosity or cell degradation. The PyOIF module is based on the official ESPResSo distribution with few modifications and is available under the terms of the GNU General Public Licence. PyOIF is based on Python objects representing the cells and on the C++ computational core for fluid and interaction dynamics. The source code is freely available at GitHub repository, runs natively under Linux and MacOS and can be used in Windows Subsystem for Linux. The communication among PyOIF users and developers is maintained using active mailing lists. This work provides a basic background to the underlying computational models and to the implementation of interactions within this framework. We provide the prospective PyOIF users with a practical example of simulation script with reference to our publicly available User Guide.

Effects of hydrophobicity, tethering and size on flow-induced activation of von Willebrand factor multimers

Von Willebrand factor (VWF) is a multimeric protein of blood plasma that mediates platelet adhesion to injury under strong hemodynamic flows in arterias and microvasvulature. We present a 3D coarse-grained computer model of VWF multimers in flowing viscous fluid that explicitely grasps the dynamics, the conformational changes and the hydrodynamics-induced activation of adhesivity of these protein concatamers to GPIb receptor of blood platelets. The model is based on the fluctuating Lattice Boltzmann method for modelling the hydrodynamics in the simulation box and the Lagrangian particle dynamics coupled to the fluid by a viscous drag force. The model has been validated by the comparison with the experimental data found in literature. We studied the effect of hydrophobic interactions on the conformational dynamics of VWF multimers. The simulations suggest that the contour length is an important parameter that controls the functionality of VWF multimers in blood. We also demonstrate that tethering to the surface of a vessel wall promoted the flow-induced activation of VWF, while those multimers that remain untethered and move freely in the blood plasma require a stronger shearing to get activated.

Long ligands reinforce biological adhesion under shear flow

In this work, computer modeling has been used to show that longer ligands allow biological cells (e.g., blood platelets) to withstand stronger flows after their adhesion to solid walls. A mechanistic model of polymer-mediated ligand-receptor adhesion between a microparticle (cell) and a flat wall has been developed. The theoretical threshold between adherent and non-adherent regimes has been derived analytically and confirmed by simulations. These results lead to a deeper understanding of numerous biophysical processes, e.g., arterial thrombosis, and to the design of new biomimetic colloid-polymer systems.