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

We numerically investigate margination of white blood cells and demonstrate the dependency on a number of conditions including haematocrit, the deformability of the cells and the Reynolds number. rfhe approach, winch is based on a mesoscopic hydrodynamic Helfrich-type model, reproduces previous results, e.g. a decreasing tendency for margination with increasing deformability and a non-monotonic dependency on haematocrit. rfhe consideration of inertia effects, which may be of relevance in various parts of the cardiovascular system, indicates a decreasing tendency for margination with increasing Reynolds number. The effect is discussed by analysing inertial and non-inertial lift forces for single cells under different flow conditions and large-scale two-dimensional simulations of interacting red blood cells and white blood cells in an idealized blood vessel.

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