Deformability of red blood cells: A determinant of blood viscosity

Sehyun Shin, Yunhee Ku, Myung Su Park, Jang Soo Suh

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

23 Citations (Scopus)

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)216-223
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Mechanical Science and Technology
Volume19
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2005 Jan
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by a Grant from the National Research Laboratory of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Korea.

Keywords

  • Blood
  • Deformability
  • Diagnosis
  • RBC
  • Viscosity

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Mechanics of Materials
  • Mechanical Engineering

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