Dresden 2009 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 17: Poster II
BP 17.36: Poster
Mittwoch, 25. März 2009, 17:15–19:45, P3
Looking at cell motility in blood flow — •Sravanti Uppaluri1, Eric Stellamanns1, Dagmar Steinhauser1, Markus Engstler2, and Thomas Pfohl1 — 1Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self Organization — 2Darmstadt University of Technology
Entry of African trypanosomes, bloodstream parasites responsible for sleeping sickness, into the brain drastically diminishes disease prognosis. With an average swimming speed of 20μm/s, trypanosomes are able to penetrate the blood brain barrier despite significantly higher blood flow rates around the brain. This suggests that trypanosomes may have the ability to preferentially position themselves along the width of a blood vessel even at local flow velocities of up to 1mm/s. Using microfluidic techniques, we emulate blood vessels and thereby study the trypanosome's behaviour in Poiseuille flow. We examine the parasite's position distribution along the width of the `blood vessel' in increasing flow rates. We demonstrate the trypanosomes' ability to make turns at relatively high flow velocities and penetrate confined gaps. Further, chemical gradients are established within the microfluidic device to investigate the chemotactic response of trypanosomes in flow. These experiments should lead to the development of a microfluidic assay to test for membrane crossing of motile cells.