Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Soft Grains: Malaria-Infected Red Blood Cells Motion within Obstructed 2-D Capillary Vessel

Abstract

Molecular dynamics has been widely used to numerically solve equation of motion of classical many-particle system. It can be used to simulate many systems including biophysics, whose complexity level is determined by the involved elements. Based on this method, a numerical model had been constructed to mimic the behaviour of malaria-infected red blood cells within capillary vessel. The model was governed by three forces namely Coulomb force, normal force, and Stokes force. By utilizing two dimensional four-cells scheme, theoretical observation was carried out to test its capability. Although the parameters were chosen deliberately, all of the quantities were given arbitrary value. Despite this fact, the results were quite satisfactory. Combined with the previous results, it can be said that the proposed model were sufficient enough to mimic the malaria-infected red blood cells motion within obstructed capillary vessel. Keywords: molecular dynamics, two-dimensional model, red-blood cell motion, malaria