Quantifying blood clot biomechanics with integrated CFD and intravital imaging*

The dynamic flow environment around an in vivo hemostatic blood clot is highly complex, and often not fully quantifiably understood. Intravital microscopy is a common technique to study in vivo clot mechanics in mice. These in vivo data illustrate how a clot forms, grows, and embolizes but does not provide information on local flow and flow-induced forces. We have previously developed an in silico method named IVISim that integrates with in vivo intravital images to predict flow environment in a clot neighborhood. Here, we employ IVISim to compare the dynamic clot-hemodynamics interactions between a wild type mouse model and a diYF knockout model that has impaired clot contraction. Each cohort has six mice for our study. Using IVISim we will compare these phenotypes by computing flow patterns, quantifying unsteady force-deformation behavior of the clot, as well as characterizing features such as embolization. Such detailed comparisons between wild type and knockout mice from a biomechanical clot response perspective have been lacking.