Three-dimensional Simulation of Blood Flow in Malaria Infection

Abstract

We propose a numerical method for simulating three-dimensional hemodynamics arising from malariainfection. Malaria-infected red blood cells (IRBCs) become stiffer and develop the property of cytoadherent and resetting. To clarify the mechanism of microvascular obstruction in malaria, we need to understand the changes of hemodynamics, involving interaction between IRBC, healthy RBCs, and endothelial cells. In the proposed model, all the components of blood are represented by a finite number of particles. The membrane of RBCs is expressed by two-dimensional network. Malaria parasites inside the RBC are represented by solid objects. The motion of each particle is described by the conservation laws of mass and momentum for incompressible fluid. We examine several numerical tests, involving the stretching of IRBCs, and flow in narrow channels, to validate our model. The obtained results agree well with the experimental results. Our method would be helpful for further understandings of pathology of malaria-infection. © 2009 International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering.