Microfluidic Simulation and Optimization of Blood Coagulation Factors and Anticoagulants in Polymethyl Methacrylate Microchannels

Abstract

Blood coagulation is a critical and complex reaction that involves various chemical substances, such as prothrombin, fibrinogen, and fibrin. The process can be divided into three main steps, namely the formation of the prothrombin activator, conversion of prothrombin to thrombin, and conversion of fibrinogen to fibrin. In this study, an ANSYS simulation is carried out to determine the prothrombin time (PT) of blood, the chemical changes that occur during coagulation and the anticoagulation factor. The addition of deionized water to the microchannels before the addition of blood and reagents results in a two-phase flow. The evaluation of this two-phase flow is necessary, and dynamic simulations are required to determine the PT. The chemical rate constant and order of the chemical reaction are derived from the actual prothrombin time. Moreover, the genetic algorithms in PYTHON and ANSYS are used to estimate chemical reaction parameters for a 20 s PT. The blood and anticoagulant exhibit increased dynamic behavior in the microchannel. In addition, particles are added to the microchannel and the dynamic mesh method is used to simulate the flow behaviors of the red and white blood cells in the microchannel. The PTs for different volumes of blood are also reported.