title: Blood viscosity in microvessels: experiment and theory.
abstract: The apparent viscosity of blood flowing through narrow glass tubes decreases strongly with decreasing tube diameter over the range from about 300μm to about 10μm. This phenomenon, known as the Fåhraeus-Lindqvist effect, occurs because blood is a concentrated suspension of deformable red blood cells with a typical dimension of about 8μm. Most of the resistance to blood flow through the circulatory system resides in microvessels with diameters in this range. Apparent viscosity of blood in microvesselsin vivohas been found to be significantly higher than in glass tubes with corresponding diameters. Here we review experimental observations of blood's apparent viscosityin vitroandin vivo, and progress towards a quantitative theoretical understanding of the mechanisms involved.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85724, USA.
authors.forename: Timothy W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Secomb
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and CCR, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Axel R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Pries
keywords: capillary; microcirculation; red blood cell; rheology
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