Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30307, USA.
Sci Adv. 2023 Dec;9(48):eadj6423. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adj6423. Epub 2023 Nov 29.
Red blood cell (RBC) disorders such as sickle cell disease affect billions worldwide. While much attention focuses on altered properties of aberrant RBCs and corresponding hemodynamic changes, RBC disorders are also associated with vascular dysfunction, whose origin remains unclear and which provoke severe consequences including stroke. Little research has explored whether biophysical alterations of RBCs affect vascular function. We use a detailed computational model of blood that enables characterization of cell distributions and vascular stresses in blood disorders and compare simulation results with experimental observations. Aberrant RBCs, with their smaller size and higher stiffness, concentrate near vessel walls (marginate) because of contrasts in physical properties relative to normal cells. In a curved channel exemplifying the geometric complexity of the microcirculation, these cells distribute heterogeneously, indicating the importance of geometry. Marginated cells generate large transient stress fluctuations on vessel walls, indicating a mechanism for the observed vascular inflammation.
红细胞（RBC）疾病，如镰状细胞病，影响着全球数十亿人。虽然人们对异常 RBC 的特性改变和相应的血液动力学变化关注较多，但 RBC 疾病也与血管功能障碍有关，其起源尚不清楚，并引发严重后果，包括中风。很少有研究探讨 RBC 的生物物理变化是否会影响血管功能。我们使用了一种详细的血液计算模型，该模型能够描述血液疾病中细胞分布和血管应力的特征，并将模拟结果与实验观察结果进行比较。异常的 RBC 由于其体积较小、刚性较高，与正常细胞相比，其物理特性存在差异，因此它们会集中在血管壁附近（边缘分布）。在一个弯曲的通道中，该通道模拟了微循环的几何复杂性，这些细胞呈现出不均匀的分布，这表明了几何形状的重要性。边缘分布的细胞在血管壁上产生大的瞬态应力波动，这表明了观察到的血管炎症的一种机制。
