title: Osmotic deformability of erythrocytes at various shear stresses.
abstract: Red blood cell (RBC) deformability is greatly affected by the osmolality, and maximum deformability, which is determined as maximal elongation index (EI(max)), is usually observed in isotonic conditions at high shear stresses (>20 Pa). Therefore, we examined osmotic RBC deformability over a range of shear stresses (0.5-20 Pa). We found that the RBC deformability at low shear stresses (1-3 Pa) was maximum in hypotonic conditions (225-250 mOsm/kg H2O), which is slightly lower than the normal range of osmolality in plasma (290-310 mOsm/kg H2O). The phenomenon that O(max) (the osmolality at EI(max)) is dependent on applied shear stress could play an important role in microcirculation in which osmolality varies widely.
authors.affiliation: School of Mechanical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Yujin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Heo
authors.affiliation: Department of New Materials, SUNY at Stony Brook, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Hyunwoo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: School of Mechanical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Sehyun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shin
mesh_terms: D004907:Erythrocyte Deformability / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009994:Osmolar Concentration; D013314:Stress, Mechanical
keywords: RBC; deformability; in vivo; osmolality; shear stress