Compressed vessels bias red blood cell partitioning at bifurcations in a hematocrit-dependent manner: implications in tumor blood flow

The tumor microenvironment is abnormal and associated with tumor tissue hypoxia, immunosuppression, and poor response to treatment. One important abnormality present in tumors is vessel compression. Vessel decompression has been shown to increase survival rates in animal models via enhanced and more homogeneous oxygenation. However, our knowledge of the biophysical mechanisms linking tumor decompression to improved tumor oxygenation is limited. In this study, we propose a computational model to investigate the impact of vessel compression on red blood cell (RBC) dynamics in tumor vascular networks. Our results demonstrate that vessel compression can alter RBC partitioning at bifurcations in a hematocrit-dependent and flowrate-independent manner. We identify RBC focussing due to cross-streamline migration as the mechanism responsible and characterise the spatiotemporal recovery dynamics controlling downstream partitioning. Based on this knowledge, we formulate a reduced order model that will help future research to elucidate how these effects propagate at a whole vascular network level. These findings contribute to the mechanistic understanding of hemodilution in tumor vascular networks and oxygen homogenisation following pharmacological solid tumor decompression.