Cell rolling and detachment under flow acceleration

Mechanisms of adhesion, rolling and detachment of cells under shear flows play an important role in the understanding of cell adhesion related in vivo biological processes and the development of in vitro microfluidics. Previous researches are focused on cell adhesion under uniform flows, though accelerating flows are common in microscale flows in vivo and in vitro. Effects of flow acceleration on cell adhesion and detachment remain unknown. As such, we developed a mathematical model based on front tracking method and investigated cell adhesion and detachment under flow acceleration. The main findings include: 1) flow acceleration makes it more difficult for cells to roll and detach, 2) with decreasing flow acceleration, cell deformation and the critical wall shear stress for cell rolling and detachment increases.