Thromb Haemost 2008; 99(01): 108-115
DOI: 10.1160/TH07-08-0490
Platelets and Blood Cells
Schattauer GmbH

Simulation of platelet adhesion and aggregation regulated by fibrinogen and von Willebrand factor

Daisuke Mori
1   Deptartment of Bioengineering and Robotics, Tohoku University, Japan
,
Koichiro Yano
2   Toyota Motor Corporation, Japan
,
Ken-ichi Tsubota
3   Department of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering, Chiba University, Japan
,
Takuji Ishikawa
1   Deptartment of Bioengineering and Robotics, Tohoku University, Japan
,
Shigeo Wada
4   Department of Mechanical Science and Bioengineering, Osaka University, Japan
,
Takami Yamaguchi
1   Deptartment of Bioengineering and Robotics, Tohoku University, Japan
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Correspondence to:

Daisuke Mori
Department of Bioengineering and Robotics
Tohoku University
6–6–01 Aoba, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980–8579, Japan
Phone: +81 22 795 6958   
Fax: +81 22 795 6958   

Publication History

Received: 03 August 2007

Accepted after major revision: 18 October 2007

Publication Date:
24 November 2017 (online)

 

Summary

We propose a method to analyze platelet adhesion and aggregation computationally, taking into account the distinct properties of two plasma proteins, vonWillebrand factor (vWF) and fibrinogen (Fbg). In this method, the hydrodynamic interactions between platelet particles under simple shear flow were simulated using Stokesian dynamics based on the additivity of velocities. The binding force between particles mediated by vWF and Fbg was modeled using the Voigt model. Two Voigt models with different properties were introduced to consider the distinct behaviors of vWF and Fbg. Our results qualitatively agreed with the general observation of a previous in-vitro experiment, thus demonstrating that the significant development of thrombus formation in height requires not only vWF, but also Fbg. This agreement of simulation and experimental results qualitatively validates our model and suggests that consideration of the distinct roles of vWF and Fbg is essential to investigate the physiological and pathophysiological mechanisms of thrombus formation using a computational approach.


 



Correspondence to:

Daisuke Mori
Department of Bioengineering and Robotics
Tohoku University
6–6–01 Aoba, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980–8579, Japan
Phone: +81 22 795 6958   
Fax: +81 22 795 6958