An experimental study of shear-dependent human platelet adhesion and underlying protein-binding mechanisms in a cylindrical Couette system

Linda Tran; Khosrow Mottaghy; Sabine Arlt-Körfer; Christian Waluga; Mehdi Behbahani

doi:10.1515/bmt-2015-0034

Article

An experimental study of shear-dependent human platelet adhesion and underlying protein-binding mechanisms in a cylindrical Couette system

Linda Tran , Khosrow Mottaghy , Sabine Arlt-Körfer , Christian Waluga and Mehdi Behbahani

Published/Copyright: October 8, 2016

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From the journal Biomedical Engineering / Biomedizinische Technik Volume 62 Issue 4

Abstract

Undesirable thrombotic reactions count among the most frequent and serious complications for patients who rely on the use of medical devices. To improve the design of medical devices, it is essential to develop a more precise understanding of platelet reactions. Clinical studies and experiments have shown a strong dependence of platelet deposition behavior on the flow. However, today the influence of hemodynamic parameters such as the shear rate on thrombotic reactions is not well understood. For the study of the shear-dependent mechanisms leading to the activation, adhesion and aggregation of platelets, a Couette flow system was used to investigate thrombocyte behavior with regard to well-defined flow conditions at shear-rate values between γ˙=400 and 1400 1/s. Results were calculated for physiological temperature. It could be shown that the platelet adhesion density increased with increasing shear rates up to γ˙=800 1/s and the adhesion pattern was homogeneous. At γ˙=800 1/s, a sudden drop in platelet adhesion density occurred and platelets adhered in filaments. Fluorescence microscopy results of von Willebrand factor (vWF) confirm that a shear rate of γ˙=800 1/s represents the threshold where a switch of the platelet-binding mechanism from fibrinogen-mediated to vWF-mediated platelet adhesion takes place.

Keywords: cylindrical Couette flow; fibrinogen; platelets; shear stress; thrombosis; von Willebrand factor (vWF)

Corresponding author: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Mehdi Behbahani, Biomaterials Laboratory, Aachen University of Applied Sciences, Campus Juelich, Heinrich-Mussmann Str. 1, D-52428 Juelich, Germany, Phone: +49 241 6009 53727, Fax: +49 241 6009 53199

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank AICES for their financial support of the performed experiments and the Institute of Pathology of the Aachen University Hospital for the SEM photographs. We further thank Prof. S. Jockenhoevel and S. Olszewski for supporting us with fluorescence microscopy. Moreover, we thank Professor M. Behr and B. Oedekoven for their support. We specially thank K. Vonderstein and P. Keschenau for their help and contribution to our experiments.

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Received: 2015-2-16

Accepted: 2016-8-19

Published Online: 2016-10-8

Published in Print: 2017-8-28

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/bmt-2015-0034

Keywords for this article

cylindrical Couette flow; fibrinogen; platelets; shear stress; thrombosis; von Willebrand factor (vWF)