Why and how does collective red blood cells motion occur in the blood microcirculation?

Abstract

The behaviour of red blood cells (RBCs), modelled as vesicles, in Poiseuille flow, mimicking the microvasculature, is studied with numerical simulations in two dimensions. RBCs moving in the centre of the Poiseuille flow (as in blood capillaries) are shown to attract each other and form clusters only due to hydrodynamic interactions, provided that their distance at a given time is below a certain critical value. This distance depends on physical parameters, such as the flow strength. Our simulations reveal that clusters are unstable above a threshold value in the number of forming RBCs, beyond which one or few cells escape the pack by a self-regulating mechanism that select the marginally stable size. This size selection depends on the flow strength as well as on the RBC swelling ratio. The results are interpreted via the analysis of the perturbation of the flow field induced by the vesicles and the interplay with bending and tension forces. This sheds a novel light on the process of collective motion of RBCs observed in vivo. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.