title: Ghost Cell Suspensions as Blood Analogue Fluid for Macroscopic Particle Image Velocimetry Measurements.
abstract: Spatially resolved measurement of blood flow is of great interest in the development of artificial blood-carrying devices such as blood pumps, heart valve prostheses, and oxygenators. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) is able to measure instantaneous velocity fields in a plane with high accuracy and is being used more frequently for the development of such devices. However, as this measurement technique is based on optical access, blood flow at physiological hematocrit values is difficult to measure due to its low transparency and multiscattering properties. So far, only very small dimensions (in the range of 400 μm) can be measured using PIV. A suspension of ghost cells (GCs) offers a higher optical transparency than blood while having a similar rheological behavior. In this study, a procedure for the production of GC suspensions containing a very low intracellular hemoglobin concentration is presented. With the help of multiple rounds of controlled cell lysis, the intracellular hemoglobin concentration could be decreased to a point where a standard macroscopic PIV measurement was possible. A velocity profile of a 44% GC suspension in a circular channel with a diameter of 9.5 mm was measured with high spatial resolution. Meanwhile, the rheological behavior was found to be comparable with blood.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Engineering, Institute of Applied Medical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Sebastian V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Jansen
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Engineering, Institute of Applied Medical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Indra
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Engineering, Institute of Applied Medical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nachtsheim
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Engineering, Institute of Applied Medical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schmitz-Rode
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Engineering, Institute of Applied Medical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Steinseifer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000166:cytology*; D006461:Hemolysis; D018056:Hemorheology; D012212:Rheology / Q000379:methods*; D013552:Swine
keywords: Blood flow; Erythrocyte ghosts; Flow measurement; Particle image velocimetry