Deformation of red blood cells in capillaries.
The shapes of red blood cells in capillary blood vessels are reinterpreted from observations of human red cells. The parachute or umbrella shape often observed is not an axisymmetric shape as formerly assumed, but is the basic biconcave disk shape of the red cell with the upstream end flattened by the pressure gradient.
D001692:Biological Transport; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002196:Capillaries / Q000502:physiology*; D004912:Erythrocytes; D006801:Humans; D012212:Rheology