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Wall Shear Stress Measurements in an Arterial Flow Bioreactor

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Abstract

In vitro arterial flow bioreactor systems are widely used in tissue engineering to investigate response of endothelial cells to shear. However, the assumption that such models reproduce physiological flow has not been experimentally tested. Furthermore, shear stresses experienced by the endothelium are generally calculated using a Poiseuille flow assumption. Understanding the performance of flow bioreactor systems is of great importance, since interpretation of biological responses hinges on the fidelity of such systems and the validity of underlying assumptions. Here we test the physiologic reliability of arterial flow bioreactors and the validity of the Poiseuille assumption for a typical system used in tissue engineering. A particle image velocimetry system was employed to experimentally measure the flow within the vessel with high spatial and temporal resolution. Two types of vessels were considered: first, fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) tubing representative of a human artery without cells; and second, FEP tubing with a confluent layer of endothelial cells on the vessel lumen. Instantaneous wall shear stress (WSS), time-averaged WSS, and oscillatory shear index were computed from velocity field measurements and compared between cases. The flow patterns and resulting wall shear were quantitatively determined to not accurately reproduce physiological flow, and that the Poiseuille flow assumption was found to be invalid. This work concludes that analysis of cell response to hemodynamic parameters using such bioreactors should be accompanied by corresponding flow measurements for accurate quantification of fluid stresses.

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Abbreviations

E :

Tensile modulus

C :

Compliance

Re :

Reynolds number

α :

Womersley number

u avg :

Average flow velocity

D :

Vessel diameter

ν :

Kinematic viscosity

ω :

Pulse frequency

n :

Index of refraction

μ :

Dynamic viscosity

τ w(x,t):

Instantaneous wall shear stress

\( \overline{{\tau_{\text{w}} }} \left( x \right) \) :

Time-averaged wall shear stress

ε:

Measurement uncertainty

OSI:

Oscillatory shear index

N t :

Number of time points

T :

Cycle period

P :

Pressure

Q :

Volumetric flow rate

t i :

Cycle interval

x*:

Nondimensionalized axial position

y*:

Nondimensionalized radial position

R c :

Reverse coefficient

L e :

Entrance length

PIV:

Particle image velocimetry

HMEC:

Human microvascular endothelial cells

FEP:

Fluorinated ethylene propylene

WSS:

Wall shear stress

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Acknowledgments

Funding for this project was provided by the Clare Boothe Luce Graduate Fellowship (EEV), Virginia Space Grant Consortium Graduate STEM Research Fellowship (EEV), National Institutes of Health/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute R01HL098912 (MNR), National Science Foundation CAREER Award CBET 0955072 (MNR), and National Science Foundation CAREER Award CBET 0547434 (PPV).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech, 100S Randolph Hall, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA

    Elizabeth E. Voigt, Marissa Nichole Rylander & Pavlos P. Vlachos

  2. VT-WFU School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, Virginia Tech, 317 ICTAS, Stanger Street, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA

    Cara F. Buchanan, Marissa Nichole Rylander & Pavlos P. Vlachos

Authors
  1. Elizabeth E. Voigt
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  2. Cara F. Buchanan
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  3. Marissa Nichole Rylander
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  4. Pavlos P. Vlachos
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Correspondence to Pavlos P. Vlachos.

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Associate Editor Ajit P. Yoganathan oversaw the review of this article.

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Voigt, E.E., Buchanan, C.F., Nichole Rylander, M. et al. Wall Shear Stress Measurements in an Arterial Flow Bioreactor. Cardiovasc Eng Tech 3, 101–111 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13239-011-0076-0

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