Analysis of Destruction Process of the Primary Thrombus Under the Influence of the Blood Flow

Abstract

Stokesian dynamics method based on the approximation of the additivity of velocities was employed to analyze the mechanical behavior of the primary thrombus under the blood flow. The mechanical interactions in the platelet-platelet aggregation and the platelet-surface adhesion via biological macromolecules such as von Willebrand factor and fibrinogen was modeled by the Voigt model. The process of the primary thrombus destruction was simulated under different levels of the mechanical interaction using the developed method. When the binding force was weak, which corresponds to the decline of the platelet function in the bleeding diseases, it was demonstrated that the platelets did not efficiently reside on the injured site of the vessel wall. The results show that our modeling can qualitatively demonstrate the effect of the mechanical interaction via adhesive macromolecules on the destruction process of the primary thrombus. Our modeling could be a powerful tool to better understand the physiological hemostatic mechanism as well as the pathology of the thrombosis and the bleeding disorders.

Keywords

• stokesian dynamics
• platelet
• plasma proteins
• bleeding diseases
• thrombosis