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Deformability of red blood cells: A determinant of blood viscosity

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Abstract

The suspension of hardened red blood cells (RBCs) differs from the suspension of normal RBCs with respect to their rheological behavior. The present study investigated the effect of deformability of RBCs on blood viscosity. RBC deformability and blood viscosity were measured with a recently developed slit-flow laser-diffractometer and the pressure-scanning capillary viscometer, respectively. At the same level of cell concentration, the viscosity of the hardened RBC suspension is higher than that of the normal RBCs suspension. An increase in cell percentage for hardened RBCs shows the significant increase in the level of blood viscosity compared to the normal RBCs. In addition, it was found that RBC deformability played an important role in reducing viscosity at low shear rates as well as high shear rates. These results present the evidence for the effect of RBC deformability on blood viscosity using newly developed methods, which can be used in early diagnosis of the cardiovascular diseases.

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Abbreviations

EI:

elongation index

h:

slit gap, [m]

L:

slit length, [m]

n:

number of samples

P:

pressure, [kPa]

δP:

pressure difference(=Pa- P)

Q:

volume flow rate, [m3/s]

V:

volume, [m3]

t:

time, [s]

w:

slit width, [m]

X:

length of major axis of ellipse

Y:

length of minor axis of ellipse

ρ:

density, [kg/m3]

η:

non-Newtonian viscosity, [Pa*s]

γ:

shear rate, [s-1]

τ:

shear stress, [Pa]

A:

atmosphere

avg:

averaged

w:

wall

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Kyungpook National University, 1370, Sankyuk-dong, 702-701, Buk-gu, Daegu, Korea

    Sehyun Shin, Yunhee Ku & Myung-Su Park

  2. Department of Laboratory Medicine, Kyungpook National University Hospital, 700-721, Daegu, Korea

    Jang-Soo Suh

Authors
  1. Sehyun Shin
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  2. Yunhee Ku
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  3. Myung-Su Park
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  4. Jang-Soo Suh
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Correspondence to Sehyun Shin.

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Shin, S., Ku, Y., Park, MS. et al. Deformability of red blood cells: A determinant of blood viscosity. J Mech Sci Technol 19, 216–223 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02916121

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02916121

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