Application of Multiphase Computational Fluid Dynamics to Analyze Monocyte Adhesion

Study of the mechanisms of monocyte adhesion initiating atheroslerotic lesions has engaged investigators for decades. Single-phase computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses fail to account for particulate migration. Consequently, inconsistencies arise when correlating adhesion with wall shear stress (WSS). The purpose of this paper is to present, to our knowledge, the first computational analysis of in vitro U937 monocyte-like human cell adhesion data using a coupled multiphase CFD-population balance adhesion model. The CFD model incorporates multiphase non-Newtonian hemodynamic models to compute the spatial distributions of freely flowing monocytes and WSSs in control volumes adjacent to the wall. Measurements of monocyte adhesion onto an E-selectin-coated flow model that included an idealized stenosis and an abrupt expansion were available from the literature. In this study, we develop a new monolayer population balance adhesion model, based on the widely accepted mechanism of ligand–receptor binding, coupled to the CFD results. The monolayer population balance model accounts for the interactions of freely flowing, rolling, and adhering monocytes with surfaces via first-order reactions, transport of rolling cells in the monolayer, and the concept of a WSS detachment threshold, clearly evident in the adhesion experiments. The new paradigm of coupling the multiphase hemodynamic CFD model with the proposed adhesion model is illustrated by determining and interpreting the model parameters for experimental datasets having Reynolds numbers of 100 and 140. The coupled multiphase CFD adhesion model is able to simultaneously predict the spatial variations in freely flowing monocytes, their adherent number density, and carrier fluid WSSs adjacent to ligand-coated flow cell surfaces.