Migration velocity of red blood cells in microchannels

Publication date: Available online 2 March 2019Source: Microvascular ResearchAuthor(s): Sylvain Losserand, Gwennou Coupier, Thomas PodgorskiAbstractThe lateral migration of red blood cells (RBCs) in confined channel flows is an important ingredient of microcirculatory hydrodynamics and is involved in the development of a cell free layer near vessel walls and influences the distribution of RBCs in networks. It is also relevant to a number of lab-on-chip applications. This migration is a consequence of their deformability and is due to the combined effects of hydrodynamic wall repulsion and the curvature of the fluid velocity profile. We performed microfluidic experiments with dilute suspensions of RBCs in which the trajectories and migration away from the channel wall are analyzed to extract the mean behavior, from which we propose a generic scaling law for the transverse migration velocity valid in a whole range of parameters relevant to microcirculatory and practical situations. Experiments with RBCs of different mechanical properties (separated by density gradient sedimentation or fixed with glutaraldehyde) show the influence of this parameter which can induce significant dispersion of the trajectories.

Source: Microvascular Research - March 4, 2019 Category: Biochemistry Source Type: research