Red blood cell (RBC) suspensions in confined microflows: Pressure-flow relationship

To quantify the properties of blood in the microcirculation, red blood cell (RBC) flows have been widely investigated in vitro as a proxy for the innate microvasculature [1 –3]. In this context, microfabrication techniques have facilitated the proliferation of in vitro studies on blood flows where the use of microfluidic models has helped address questions pertaining to the role of microvascular morphology [4,5], blood viscosity [6,7] and haematocrit [8], as well as RBC deformation [9–11]. In these experiments, blood is commonly resuspended to a desired haematocrit (Hct) level in a buffer solution (ranging from non-physiological values of 10% and lower [8,12] to near-physiological values of 35%−50% [4,13]) and higher, thereby avoiding the problematic use of plasma and allowing RBCs to sustain physiological-like behaviour.
Source: Medical Engineering and Physics - Category: Biomedical Engineering Authors: Tags: Technical note Source Type: research