title: Nanoparticle transport and delivery in a heterogeneous pulmonary vasculature.
abstract: Quantitative understanding of nanoparticles delivery in a complex vascular networks is very challenging because it involves interplay of transport, hydrodynamic force, and multivalent interactions across different scales. Heterogeneous pulmonary network includes up to 16 generations of vessels in its arterial tree. Modeling the complete pulmonary vascular system in 3D is computationally unrealistic. To save computational cost, a model reconstructed from MRI scanned images is cut into an arbitrary pathway consisting of the upper 4-generations. The remaining generations are represented by an artificially rebuilt pathway. Physiological data such as branch information and connectivity matrix are used for geometry reconstruction. A lumped model is used to model the flow resistance of the branches that are cut off from the truncated pathway. Moreover, since the nanoparticle binding process is stochastic in nature, a binding probability function is used to simplify the carrier attachment and detachment processes. The stitched realistic and artificial geometries coupled with the lumped model at the unresolved outlets are used to resolve the flow field within the truncated arterial tree. Then, the biodistribution of 200nm, 700nm and 2µm particles at different vessel generations is studied. At the end, 0.2-0.5% nanocarrier deposition is predicted during one time passage of drug carriers through pulmonary vascular tree. Our truncated approach enabled us to efﬁciently model hemodynamics and accordingly particle distribution in a complex 3D vasculature providing a simple, yet efficient predictive tool to study drug delivery at organ level.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering & Mechanics, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015, USA. Electronic address: Sas713@Lehigh.edu.
authors.forename: Salman
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sohrabi
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering & Mechanics, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015, USA. Electronic address: shw411@Lehigh.edu.
authors.forename: Shunqiang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering & Mechanics, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015, USA. Electronic address: jifutan@seas.upenn.edu.
authors.forename: Jifu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: School of Mechanics and Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, 610031 Chengdu, China. Electronic address: xujiang0123@163.com.
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: School of Mechanics and Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, 610031 Chengdu, China. Electronic address: yangchenjie@home.swjtu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering & Mechanics Bioengineering Program, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015, USA. Electronic address: Yal310@lehigh.edu.
authors.forename: Yaling
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D001692:Biological Transport; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000502:physiology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D057446:Hydrodynamics; D008168:Lung / Q000098:blood supply*; D008954:Models, Biological; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry; D010316:Particle Size; D014018:Tissue Distribution
keywords: Adhesion probability function; Heterogeneous vasculature; Human lung; Nanoparticle delivery; Organ level drug delivery; Truncated Model