A few upstream bifurcations drive the spatial distribution of red blood cells in model microfluidic networks.

The physics of blood flow in small vessel networks is dominated by the interactions between Red Blood Cells (RBCs), plasma and blood vessel walls. The resulting couplings between the microvessel network architecture and the heterogeneous distribution of RBCs at network-scale are still poorly understood. The main goal of this paper is to elucidate how a local effect, such as RBC partitioning at individual bifurcations, interacts with the global structure of the flow field to induce specific preferential locations of RBCs in model microfluidic networks. First, using experimental results, we demonstrate that persistent perturbations to the established hematocrit profile after diverging bifurcations may bias RBC partitioning at the next bifurcations. By performing a sensitivity analysis based upon network models of RBC flow, we show that these perturbations may propagate from bifurcation to bifurcation, leading to an outsized impact of a few crucial upstream bifurcations on the distribution of RBCs at network-scale. Based on measured hematocrit profiles, we further construct a modified RBC partitioning model that accounts for the incomplete relaxation of RBCs at these bifurcations. This model allows us to explain how the flow field results in a single pattern of RBC preferential location in some networks, while it leads to the emergence of two different patterns of RBC preferential location in others. Our findings have important implications in understanding and modeling blood flow in physiological and pathological conditions.

Spinal neuronal activation during locomotor-like activity enabled by epidural stimulation and 5-hydroxytryptamine agonists in spinal rats.

UNLABELLED: The neural networks that generate stepping in complete spinal adult rats remain poorly defined. To address this problem, we used c-fos (an activity-dependent marker) to identify active interneurons and motoneurons in the lumbar spinal cord of adult spinal rats during a 30-min bout of bipedal stepping. Spinal rats were either step trained (30 min/day, 3 days/week, for 7.5 weeks) or not step trained. Stepping was enabled by epidural stimulation and the administration of the serotonergic agonists quipazine and 8-OHDPAT. A third group of spinal rats served as untreated (no stimulation, drugs, or stepping) controls. The numbers of activated cholinergic central canal cluster cells and partition neurons were higher in both step-trained and nontrained rats than in untreated rats and were higher in nontrained than in step-trained rats. The latter finding suggests that daily treatment with epidural stimulation plus serotonergic agonist treatment without step training enhances the excitability of a broader cholinergic interneuronal population than does step training. The numbers of activated interneurons in laminae II-VI of lumbar cross-sections were higher in both step-trained and nontrained rats than in untreated rats, and they were highest in step-trained rats. This finding suggests that this population of interneurons is responsive to epidural stimulation plus serotonergic treatment and that load-bearing induced when stepping has an additive effect. The numbers of activated motoneurons of all size categories were higher in the step-trained group than in the other two groups, reflecting a strong effect of loading on motoneuron recruitment. In general, these results indicate that the spinal networks for locomotion are similar with and without brain input. SIGNIFICANCE: We identified neurons within the spinal cord networks that are activated during assisted stepping in paraplegic rats. We stimulated the spinal cord and administered a drug to help the rats step. One group was trained to step and another was not trained. We observed a lower percentage of activated neurons in specific spinal cord regions in trained rats than in nontrained rats after a 1-hr stepping bout, suggesting that step training reduces activation of some types of spinal neurons. This observation indicates that training makes the spinal networks more efficient and suggests a "learning" phenomenon in the spinal cord without any brain input.

A Three-Step Scenario Involved in Particle Capture on a Pore Edge.

A scenario is proposed to describe the capture of a spherical particle around a cylindrical pore. This geometry, "ideal" as far as the problem of particle capture on a filtration membrane is concerned, is clearly relevant in view of the pore-scale geometry of nucleopore or microsieve filtration membranes, and also of some microfluidic systems used to perform fluid-particle separation. The present scenario consists of three successive steps: particle deposition on the membrane away from the pore, subsequent reentrainment of some of the deposited particles by rolling on the membrane surface, and final arrest by a stabilizing van der Waals torque when the particle rolls over the pore edge. A modeling of these three steps requires the hydrodynamic and physicochemical particle-membrane interactions to be detailed close to the singular pore edge region and raises questions concerning the role of particle surface roughness. The relevance and robustness of such of a scenario for rough micrometer-sized latex particles is emphasized and comparisons are made with existing experimental data.

Identification of interneurons activated at different inclines during treadmill locomotion in adult rats.

By using c-fos as an activity-dependent marker, we identified the cholinergic interneurons around the central canal and lumbar interneurons throughout the gray matter that were activated after a 30-min bout of quadrupedal treadmill stepping at a 0° or 25° incline in adult rats. Increased loading (elevated treadmill incline) imposed during treadmill stepping activated more cholinergic interneurons in the proximity of the central canal, i.e., central canal cluster cells and partition neurons. Since cholinergic central canal cells are thought to modulate motoneuron excitability, these data suggest that increased load during stepping may increase motoneuronal activity through activating more cholinergic central canal cells. We identified the muscle-specific motoneurons and afferent terminals in the spinal cord by injecting cholera toxin subunit B in the soleus and tibialis anterior muscles. The number of interneurons in lumbar segments L4 (tibialis anterior) and L5 (soleus) was higher in both groups that stepped on the treadmill compared with control and was highest in rats that stepped at a 25° incline. In a majority of laminae, the distribution of total and muscle-specific activated interneurons was highest in the 25° incline group and lowest in the control group for both muscles. These data could reflect increased peripheral (proprioceptive) input as well as supraspinal drive associated with stepping and demonstrate the differences in 1) the activation of cholinergic interneurons near the central canal and 2) the laminar and segmental location of interneurons throughout the gray matter that play a role in generating stepping under different loading conditions in adult rats.

Kinetic modeling in the context of cerebral blood flow quantification by H2(15)O positron emission tomography: the meaning of the permeability coefficient in Renkin-Crone׳s model revisited at capillary scale.

One the one hand, capillary permeability to water is a well-defined concept in microvascular physiology, and linearly relates the net convective or diffusive mass fluxes (by unit area) to the differences in pressure or concentration, respectively, that drive them through the vessel wall. On the other hand, the permeability coefficient is a central parameter introduced when modeling diffusible tracers transfer from blood vessels to tissue in the framework of compartmental models, in such a way that it is implicitly considered as being identical to the capillary permeability. Despite their simplifying assumptions, such models are at the basis of blood flow quantification by H2(15)O Positron Emission Tomgraphy. In the present paper, we use fluid dynamic modeling to compute the transfers of H2(15)O between the blood and brain parenchyma at capillary scale. The analysis of the so-obtained kinetic data by the Renkin-Crone model, the archetypal compartmental model, demonstrates that, in this framework, the permeability coefficient is highly dependent on both flow rate and capillary radius, contrarily to the central hypothesis of the model which states that it is a physiological constant. Thus, the permeability coefficient in Renkin-Crone׳s model is not conceptually identical to the physiologic permeability as implicitly stated in the model. If a permeability coefficient is nevertheless arbitrarily chosen in the computed range, the flow rate determined by the Renkin-Crone model can take highly inaccurate quantitative values. The reasons for this failure of compartmental approaches in the framework of brain blood flow quantification are discussed, highlighting the need for a novel approach enabling to fully exploit the wealth of information available from PET data.

Ultraviolet control of bacterial biofilms in microfluidic chips.

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic systems have been instrumental in better understanding couplings between physical mechanisms and bacterial biofilm processes, such as hydrodynamic effects. However, precise control of the growth conditions, for example, the initial distribution of cells on the substrate or the boundary conditions in a flow system, has remained challenging. Furthermore, undesired bacterial colonization in crucial parts of the systems, in particular, in mixing zones or tubing, is an important factor that strongly limits the duration of the experiments and, therefore, impedes our ability to study the biophysics of biofilm evolving over long periods of time, as found in the environment, in engineering, or in medicine. Here, we develop a new approach that uses ultraviolet-C (UV-C) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to confine bacterial development to specific zones of interest in the flow channels. The LEDs are integrated into a 3D printed light guide that is positioned upon the chip and used to irradiate germicidal UV-C directly through the PDMS. We first demonstrate that this system is successful in controlling undesired growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm in inlet and outlet mixing zones during 48 h. We further illustrate how this can be used to define the initial distribution of bacteria to perturb already formed biofilms during an experiment and to control colonization for seven days-and possibly longer periods of time-therefore opening the way toward long-term biofilm experiments in microfluidic devices. Our approach is easily generalizable to existing devices at low cost and may, thus, become a standard in biofilm experiments in PDMS microfluidics.

Velocimetry of red blood cells in microvessels by the dual-slit method: effect of velocity gradients.

The dual-slit is a photometric technique used for the measurement of red blood cell (RBC) velocity in microvessels. Two photometric windows (slits) are positioned along the vessel. Because the light is modulated by the RBCs flowing through the microvessel, a time dependent signal is captured for each window. A time delay between the two signals is obtained by temporal cross correlation, and is used to deduce a velocity, knowing the distance between the two slits. Despite its wide use in the field of microvascular research, the velocity actually measured by this technique has not yet been unambiguously related to a relevant velocity scale of the flow (e.g. mean or maximal velocity) or to the blood flow rate. This is due to a lack of fundamental understanding of the measurement and also because such a relationship is crucially dependent on the non-uniform velocity distribution of RBCs in the direction parallel to the light beam, which is generally unknown. The aim of the present work is to clarify the physical significance of the velocity measured by the dual-slit technique. For that purpose, dual-slit measurements were performed on computer-generated image sequences of RBCs flowing in microvessels, which allowed all the parameters related to this technique to be precisely controlled. A parametric study determined the range of optimal parameters for the implementation of the dual-slit technique. In this range, it was shown that, whatever the parameters governing the flow, the measured velocity was the maximal RBC velocity found in the direction parallel to the light beam. This finding was then verified by working with image sequences of flowing RBCs acquired in PDMS micro-systems in vitro. Besides confirming the results and physical understanding gained from the study with computer generated images, this in vitro study showed that the profile of RBC maximal velocity across the channel was blunter than a parabolic profile, and exhibited a non-zero sliding velocity at the channel walls. Overall, the present work demonstrates the robustness and high accuracy of the optimized dual-slit technique in various flow conditions, especially at high hematocrit, and discusses its potential for applications in vivo.

Pore cross-talk in colloidal filtration.

Blockage of pores by particles is found in many processes, including filtration and oil extraction. We present filtration experiments through a linear array of ten channels with one dimension which is sub-micron, through which a dilute dispersion of Brownian polystyrene spheres flows under the action of a fixed pressure drop. The growth rate of a clog formed by particles at a pore entrance systematically increases with the number of already saturated (entirely clogged) pores, indicating that there is an interaction or "cross-talk" between the pores. This observation is interpreted based on a phenomenological model, stating that a diffusive redistribution of particles occurs along the membrane, from clogged to free pores. This one-dimensional model could be extended to two-dimensional membranes.

Control of evaporation by geometry in capillary structures. From confined pillar arrays in a gap radial gradient to phyllotaxy-inspired geometry.

Evaporation is a key phenomenon in the natural environment and in many technological systems involving capillary structures. Understanding the evaporation front dynamics enables the evaporation rate from microfluidic devices and porous media to be finely controlled. Of particular interest is the ability to control the position of the front through suitable design of the capillary structure. Here, we show how to design model capillary structures in microfluidic devices so as to control the drying kinetics. This is achieved by acting on the spatial organization of the constrictions that influence the invasion of the structure by the gas phase. Two types of control are demonstrated. The first is intended to control the sequence of primary invasions through the pore space, while the second aims to control the secondary liquid structures: films, bridges, etc., that can form in the region of pore space invaded by the gas phase. It is shown how the latter can be obtained from phyllotaxy-inspired geometry. Our study thus opens up a route toward the control of the evaporation kinetics by means of tailored capillary structures.

Going beyond 20 µm-sized channels for studying red blood cell phase separation in microfluidic bifurcations.

Despite the development of microfluidics, experimental challenges are considerable for achieving a quantitative study of phase separation, i.e., the non-proportional distribution of Red Blood Cells (RBCs) and suspending fluid, in microfluidic bifurcations with channels smaller than 20 µm. Yet, a basic understanding of phase separation in such small vessels is needed for understanding the coupling between microvascular network architecture and dynamics at larger scale. Here, we present the experimental methodologies and measurement techniques developed for that purpose for RBC concentrations (tube hematocrits) ranging between 2% and 20%. The maximal RBC velocity profile is directly measured by a temporal cross-correlation technique which enables to capture the RBC slip velocity at walls with high resolution, highlighting two different regimes (flat and more blunted ones) as a function of RBC confinement. The tube hematocrit is independently measured by a photometric technique. The RBC and suspending fluid flow rates are then deduced assuming the velocity profile of a Newtonian fluid with no slip at walls for the latter. The accuracy of this combination of techniques is demonstrated by comparison with reference measurements and verification of RBC and suspending fluid mass conservation at individual bifurcations. The present methodologies are much more accurate, with less than 15% relative errors, than the ones used in previous in vivo experiments. Their potential for studying steady state phase separation is demonstrated, highlighting an unexpected decrease of phase separation with increasing hematocrit in symmetrical, but not asymmetrical, bifurcations and providing new reference data in regimes where in vitro results were previously lacking.