Nonlinear Model for Deformation of Adherent Cells Due to Shear Stress

Abstract

Phenotypic changes in cells are observed in many essential cellular processes. They are driven by external and internal stimuli of a biochemical and/or physical nature. To describe the mechanical behavior of cells under various loading conditions, numerous experimental methods are currently available. The primary difficulty in developing and investigating mathematical models using numerical simulation lies in several aspects. These include accounting for the evolution of the cell’s internal structure, which directly influences its mechanical behavior, accurately describing the structural mechanisms and formulating constitutive relations with internal variables. In this study, we have performed numerical simulation of the process of instantaneous loading of a cell followed by a dwell using a statistical-thermodynamic model. The proposed model, formulated for small deformations, allows for the description of orientation mechanisms associated with actin filament behavior in a representative cell volume. Numerical results were compared with experimental data obtained via quantitative phase microscopy of cancer cells under shear stress conditions. An optimization problem was solved using the Nelder --- Mead method to identify the model parameters. The evolution of the profile of the cytoskeleton’s free energy is presented. The dependence of the potential barrier on the loading time was determined for different applied stress value

The work was carried out within the framework of a State Assignment (registration no. 124020200116-1)

Please cite this article as:

Knyazev N.A., Nikityuk A.S. Nonlinear model for deformation of adherent cells due to shear stress. Herald of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Series Natural Sciences, 2026, no. 2 (125), pp. 20--40. EDN: TJDWYY

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