Blood cell aggregation and adhesion to endothelial cells under shear flow are crucial to many biological processes such as thrombi formation, inflammatory cascade, and tumor metastasis, in which these cellular interactions are mainly mediated by the underlying receptor-ligand bindings. While theoretical modeling of aggregation dynamics and adhesion kinetics of interacting cells have been well studied separately, how to couple these two processes remains unclear. Here we develop a combined model that couples cellular aggregation dynamics and adhesion kinetics under shear flow. The impacts of shear rate （or shear stress） and molecular binding affinity were elucidated. This study provides a unified model where the action of a fluid flow drives cell aggregation and adhesion under the modulations of the mechanical shear flow and receptor-ligand interaction kinetics. It offers an insight into understanding the relevant biological processes and functions.
Yu DuShuang PengYuhong CuiShouqin LüYan ZhangMian Long
Chiral microstructures exist widely in natural biological materials such as wood, bone, and climbing tendrils. The helical shape of such microstructures plays an important role in stress transfer between fiber and matrix,and in the mechanical properties of biological materials. In this paper, helical fiber fragmentation behavior is studied numerically using the finite-element method(FEM), and then, the effects of helical shape on fiber deformation and fracture,and the corresponding mechanical mechanisms are investigated. The results demonstrate that, to a large degree, the initial microfibril angle(MFA) determines the elastic deformation and fracture behavior of fibers. For fibers with a large MFA, the interfacial area usually has large values, inducing a relatively low fragment density during fiber fragmentation. This work may be helpful in understanding the relationship between microstructure and mechanical property in biological materials, and in the design and fabrication of bio-inspired advanced functional materials.
Self-shaping materials such as shape memory polymers have recently drawn considerable attention owing to their high shape-changing ability in response to changes in ambient conditions, and thereby have promising applications in the biomedical, biosensing, soft robotics and aerospace fields. Their design is a crucial issue of both theoretical and technological interest. Motivated by the shape-changing ability of Towel Gourd tendril helices during swelling/deswelling, we present a strategy for realizing self-shaping function through the deformation of micro/nanohelices. To guide the design and fabrication of selfshaping materials, the shape equations of bent configurations, twisted belts, and helices of slender chiral composite are developed using the variation method. Furthermore, it is numerically shown that the shape changes of a chiral composite can be tuned by the deformation of micro/nanohelices and the fabricated fiber directions. This work paves a new way to create self-shaping composites.
Many biological materials, such as wood and bone, possess helicoid microstructures at microscale, which can serve as reinforcing elements to transfer stress between crack surfaces and improve the fracture toughness of their composites. Failure processes, such as fiber/matrix inter- face debonding and sliding associated with pull-out of helical fibers, are responsible mainly for the high energy dissipation needed for the fracture toughness enhancement. Here we present systemic analyses of the pull-out behavior of a helical fiber from an elastic matrix via the finite element method （FEM） simulation, with implications regarding the underlying toughening mechanism of helicoid microstructures. We find that, through their uniform curvature and torsion, helical fibers can provide high pull-out force and large interface areas, resulting in high energy dissipation that accounts, to a large extent, for the high toughness of biological materials. The helicity of fiber shape in terms of the helical angle has significant effects on the force-displacement relationships as well as the corresponding energy dissipation during fiber pull-out.
Lixin WangYuhong CuiQinghua QinHui WangJianshan Wang
