We numerically investigated margination of leukocytes at arteriole shear rate in straight circular channels with diameters ranging from 10 to 22 μm. Our results demonstrated that passing motion of RBCs effectively induces leukocyte margination not only in small channels but also in large channels. A longer time is needed for margination to occur in a larger channel, but once a leukocyte has marginated, passing motion of RBCs occurs continuously independent of the channel diameter, and leukocyte margination is sustained for a long duration. We also show that leukocytes rarely approach the wall surface to within a microvillus length at arteriole shear rate.
Keywords: Computational biomechanics; leukocyte margination; microcirculation.
© 2014 The Authors. Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American Physiological Society and The Physiological Society.