Margination of white blood cells - a computational approach by a hydrodynamic phase field model

Abstract

We numerically investigate margination of white blood cells and demonstrate the dependency on a number of conditions including hematocrit, the deformability of the cells and the Reynolds number. A detailed mesoscopic hydrodynamic Helfrich-type model is derived, validated and used for the simulations to provides a quantitative description of the margination of white blood cells. Previous simulation results, obtained with less detailed models, could be confirmed, e.g. the largest probability of margination of white blood cells at an intermediate range of hematocrit values and a decreasing tendency with increasing deformability. The consideration of inertia effects, which become of relevance in small vessels, also shows a dependency and leads to less pronounced margination of white blood cells with increasing Reynolds number.