Modelling the movement of superparamagnetic beads engulfed in endothelial cells

Abstract

Colonization of porous scaffolds with cells is of increasing importance for various tissue engineering applications. Controlled placement of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) within a micro-porous, poly-caprolactone scaffold is facilitated with superparamagnetic beads introduced to the cells by phagocytosis. It is shown that the dominant motion of the affected cells is determined by the viscous drag of the medium and the amount of coupling with an externally imposed magnetic field. An efficient numerical scheme to compute the trajectories of the cells is presented as the first step in the optimal placement of a large collections of cells with varying numbers of embedded beads.