Multiparticle adhesive dynamics: Hydrodynamic recruitment of rolling leukocytes

The slow rolling motion of leukocytes along the walls of blood vessels mediated by specific receptor-ligand adhesion is important in inflammation and occurs in postcapillary venules over a wide range of wall shear stresses and vessel diameters. The ability of hydrodynamic collisions between cells to induce capture of free-stream leukocytes to a selectin-bearing surface under shear flow was studied experimentally by using a cell-free assay. It was found that carbohydrate-coated spherical beads, representing model leukocytes, tend to attach to the adhesive wall 4–5 cell diameters up- or downstream of a slowly rolling or stationary adhesive bead. A key feature of such “hydrodynamic recruitment” is that only glancing, indirect collisions occurring close to the plane will result in downstream attachment. A direct numerical simulation of cell capture and rolling that includes multiparticle hydrodynamic interactions is shown to reproduce the observed behavior accurately. The theory predicts that hydrodynamic recruitment will occur in the absence of buoyancy effects and over a range of shear rates, suggesting that the mechanism may be important in vivo. This theory is supported by measurements of leukocyte capture in vivo using the hamster cheek pouch model.