The effect of compressive deformations on the rate of build-up of oxygen in isolated skeletal muscle cells

In this study we integrated between confocal-based cell-specific finite element (FE) modeling and Virtual Cell (VC) transport simulations in order to determine trends of relationship between externally applied compressive deformations and build-up rates of oxygen in myoblast cells, and to further test how mild culture temperature drops (~3°C) might affect such trends. Geometries of two different cells were used, and each FE cell model was computationally subjected to large compressive deformations. Build-up of oxygen concentrations within the deformed cell shapes over time were calculated using the VC software. We found that the build-up of oxygen in the cells was slightly but consistently hindered when compressive cell deformations were applied. Temperature drops characteristic to ischemic conditions further hinder the oxygen built-up in cells. In a real-world condition, a combination of the deformation and temperature factors should be anticipated, and their combined effect might substantially impair cell respiration functions.