(F-231) Improving Cell Seeding Techniques by Measuring Fluid Viscosity in Vascular Systems

Cell seeding has been used to simulate cardiovascular system since the late 1950s to study how different parameters can affect it. In a cell seeding system, calculating fluid viscosity is essential for optimizing cell distribution and attachment. The viscosity of the cell culture medium influences fluid flow dynamics, affecting how cells disperse and settle on surfaces. The Hagen-Poiseuille equation is vital in understanding fluid flow through the cardiovascular system by relating pressure to fluid viscosity. Understanding a vascular system’s ability to resist flow is imperative to testing graft effectiveness, drug delivery and predicting areas where blood clots are most expected. By creating a model that can calculate fluid viscosity, the efficiency and effectiveness of cell seeding protocols can be improved, leading to more reliable and reproducible experimental results in various applications like tissue engineering, cell-based therapies, and cell culture studies.

This was accomplished by creating a flow chamber that was used to simulate a vascular system that circulated with fluid particles. To find the fluid viscosity of the system pressure first had to be found using a labview program that was created to read in voltages between pressure transducers set up at various points around the flow chamber. A pressure transducer measures pressure variations in the fluid system, providing crucial data for calculating fluid viscosity. The program converts the voltages into the corresponding pressure values and stores the values in an organized excel spreadsheet. These values can then be used in the Hagen-Poiseuille equation to calculate the fluid viscosity between the transducers.

The data showed as the pressure drops between transducers increased the fluid viscosity did as well. These values correspond to the theoretical values calculated showing the program is a reliable tool for measuring pressure and fluid viscosity in cardiovascular systems. Being able to measure fluid viscosity in cell seeding process comes with the ability to study how it affects the other variables in a vascular system by comparing it to that of real biological systems. Once the cell seeding process can be proven to accurately simulate a vascular system the program created can be used in the future for more non-invasive experiments with vascular grafts. Combined with techniques such as Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) by ensuring optimal flow rates, minimizing shear stress of the system, controlling cell distribution, and enhancing attachment of cells onto vascular grafts the program can be used for testing the effectiveness of vascular grafts.