Figure 8.

Effect of RBCs and the RBC-free layer on NO distribution at the lumen–wall interface (c_lum–wal). (a) Effect of RBCs on c_lum–wal for different NO reaction rates (k_RBC=0 s⁻¹ indicates the dashed line; k_RBC = 2.3 s⁻¹, dotted line; k_RBC = 23 s⁻¹, solid line; k_RBC = 230 s⁻¹, dash-dotted line); (b) distributions of c_lum–wal for the three case simulations. The comparison between case 1 (dotted line) and case 2 (dashed line) shows that the RBC-free layer with a much lower NO reaction rate could enhance c_lum–wal, and the comparison between case 2 and case 3 (solid line) illustrates that endothelial glycocalyx could further increase c_lum–wal in the high-WSS region of the stenosis. In this set of simulations, Re = 270, the NO production rate is R_NO–hyp and blood is assumed to be a Newtonian fluid.