Numerical Simulation of Various Shape Changes of a Swollen Red Blood Cell by Decrease of Its Volume(<Special Issue>Bioengineering of Biological and Medical Materials)

Abstract

In order to understand the process of the shape change of a red blood cell (RBC), a mathematical model of an RBC was developed based on the energy principle. The model was constructed by dividing the whole membrane of an RBC into small triangular elements having their own resistances to the changes in the stretch of each edge, the contact angle between the elements, and the area of each element and the whole membrane. The shape of an RBC with a given volume was determined by moving the mass points assigned to each node of the elements so as to minimize the total elastic energy of the membrane generated by these elastic resistances. It was shown that a spherical RBC transformed itself into a biconcave discoid shape and a cupped shape depending on the elastic resistance for shear deformation, and a spiculate shape temporarily when the volume was suddenly decreased. From these results, it was confirmed that it was possible to simulate various shape changes of an RBC using our model developed in the present study.