Simulation of cell deformation inside a microfluidic channel to identify parameters for mechanical characterization of cells

Abstract The mechanical characterization of different cell types is important to improve the physiological understanding of cells. Cell types can be differentiated by their elasticity, which is a measure of the amount of deformation under a given stress. Simulations based on the finite element method help us to understand, verify and improve the analysis of deformation-based cell characterization methods such as flow-based cytometry. We achieve efficient computations using a 2D-rotationally symmetric model, based on fluid-structure interaction with a hyper-elastic material. The deformation of a cell along the entirety of a microfluidic channel can be tracked for a variety of elasticities, viscosities, cell sizes, channel geometries and flow rates. The model is even able to simulate soft cells with Young’s modulus of a few hundred pascals in microfluidic channels up to 2 mm in length. Simulations can be carried out in media with constant viscosity as well as in non-Newtonian fluids with shear-dependent viscosity. We have shown that the cell carrier-medium has a strong influence on cell deformation. The position of steady-state deformation dependence on cell properties is investigated. Furthermore, the simulation model can reproduce experimentally observed relaxation of cells, which can then be mapped to actual material parameters to classify and distinguish different cell types.