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Computational fluid dynamics was utilized to calculate the distribution of fluid shear stress within the culture chamber, which was subsequently mapped onto a discrete system of lattices. The cellular Potts model was employed to simulate behaviors of the cells governed by rules for proliferation, migration, contact inhibition, and osteogenic differentiation. To accurately reflect developmental stages, the computational workflow dictated that the cells complete the phase of growth prior to the initiation of differentiation. Evaluations demonstrated that the culture region formed a relatively uniform plateau of shear stress. Within an optimal range, fluid shear stress accelerates the transition of these cells into mature osteoblasts. Furthermore, staining for alkaline phosphatase revealed responses of osteogenic differentiation strictly correlated with the local distribution of fluid shear stress. Ultimately, this study establishes a visualized framework of mesoscale modeling to analyze the collective behavior of osteoblasts under mechanical stimulation in microfluidic environments, demonstrating the feasibility of predicting subsequent extracellular matrix mineralization and providing valuable insights into the dynamic evolution of bone remodeling.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/bioengineering13070813","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,16]],"date-time":"2026-07-16T09:23:14Z","timestamp":1784193794000},"page":"813","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["A Cellular Automaton-Based Computational Model for Fluid Shear Stress-Induced Differentiation and Migration of Osteoprogenitor Cells in a Microfluidic Chip"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Di","family":"Jiang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yujiang","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xinyao","family":"Qian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Orthodontics, School of Stomatology, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China"},{"name":"State Key Laboratory Cultivation Base of Research, Prevention and Treatment for Oral Diseases, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China"},{"name":"Jiangsu Province Engineering Research Center of Stomatological Translational Medicine, Nanjing 210029, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lingbo","family":"Lu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Orthodontics, School of Stomatology, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China"},{"name":"State Key Laboratory Cultivation Base of Research, Prevention and Treatment for Oral Diseases, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China"},{"name":"Jiangsu Province Engineering Research Center of Stomatological Translational Medicine, Nanjing 210029, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mao","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Design and Manufacture of Micro-Nano Biomedical Instruments, School of Mechanical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7763-9492","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lizhe","family":"Xie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Orthodontics, School of Stomatology, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China"},{"name":"State Key Laboratory Cultivation Base of Research, Prevention and Treatment for Oral Diseases, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China"},{"name":"Jiangsu Province Engineering Research Center of Stomatological Translational Medicine, Nanjing 210029, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bin","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9169-4615","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bin","family":"Yan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Orthodontics, School of Stomatology, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China"},{"name":"State Key Laboratory Cultivation Base of Research, Prevention and Treatment for Oral Diseases, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China"},{"name":"Jiangsu Province Engineering Research Center of Stomatological Translational Medicine, Nanjing 210029, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1501","DOI":"10.1126\/science.289.5484.1501","article-title":"The osteoblast: A sophisticated fibroblast under central surveillance","volume":"289","author":"Ducy","year":"2000","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1432","DOI":"10.1002\/jbmr.4410","article-title":"The diverse origin of bone-forming osteoblasts","volume":"36","author":"Mizoguchi","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. 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