A Novel Dynamical Analysis Method for Platelet Aggregation: From Traffic Flow to Blood Flow

Abstract

This study proposed an ordinary differential equation model to simulate platelet aggregation by considering the Stokes viscosity resistance and interaction force between each platelet. This model is similar to the car-following traffic model, and its stability condition can be derived via long-wave expansion. The phase diagram can be divided into stable, metastable, and unstable regions. The theoretical results show that the flow viscosity and platelet diameter play essential roles in thrombus formation. The mKdV equation near the critical point is derived to describe the platelet density waves’ evolution properties by applying the reductive perturbation method. Furthermore, through the simulation of the space-time evolution of the distance distributions for platelets, it is shown that a smaller platelet diameter and lower viscosity will lead to thrombus formation, and the analytical results are consistent with the simulation results. The model indicates that thrombosis is similar to traffic congestion.