Red blood cells stabilize flow in brain microvascular networks
Fig 4
The simulated relative changes in response to capillary dilation are very local.
(A-B) Vessels three generations up- and downstream of the site of dilation. (A) Schematic example. Roman numbers: generation up- and downstream of the site of dilation (one exemplary branch). (B) Realistic example from microvascular network 1 (MVN 1). (C-D) Simulated relative change in flow rate (C) and in the number of RBCs (nRBC) (D) for the dilated vessel and the vessels up to three generations up- and downstream of the site of dilation. Colour legend in (A). (C-D): Results from 50 capillary dilations at well-balanced divergent bifurcations. Statistical significance: Mann-Whitney U Test, ***: p<0.001, ns: non-significant (Methods). Definition boxplot: Methods.