Understanding Malaria Induced Red Blood Cell Deformation Using Data-Driven Lattice Boltzmann Simulations

Malaria remains a deadly disease that affected millions of people in 2016. Among the five Plasmodium (P.) parasites which contribute to malaria diseases in humans. P. falciparum is a lethal one which is responsible for the majority of the world-wide-malaria-related deaths. Since the banana-shaped stage V gametocytes play a crucial role in disease transmission, understanding the deformation of single stage V gametocytes may offer deeper insights into the development of the disease and provide possible targets for new treatment methods. In this study we used lattice Boltzmann-based simulations to investigate the effects of the stretching forces acting on infected red blood cells inside a slit-flow cytometer. The parameters that represent the cellular deformability of healthy and malaria infected red blood cells are chosen such that they mimic the deformability of these cells in a slit-flow cytometer. The simulation results show good agreement with experimental data and allow for studying the transportation of malaria infected red blood cell in blood circulation.