title: Red blood cells radial dispersion in blood flowing through microchannels: The role of temperature.
abstract: The behavior of suspensions of individual blood cells, such as red blood cells (RBCs), flowing through microvessels and microfluidic systems depend strongly on the hematocrit (Hct), microvessel topology and cell properties. Although it is well known that blood rheological properties are temperature dependent, to the best of our knowledge no work has studied the role of the temperature on the RBCs dispersion. A powerful way to investigate this latter effect is through a high-speed video microscopy system, which provides detailed flow measurements of each individual RBC. Hence, the effect of temperature on the RBCs dispersion flowing through a 100μm glass capillary was examined by means of a confocal micro-PTV system. Hundreds of labeled RBCs were tracked at moderate Hct (12%) and at four different temperatures, i.e., 25°C, 32°C, 37°C and 42°C. The results yielded an enhancement of the RBCs diffusion as the temperature increases. Hence, our findings show that RBCs radial dispersion is temperature dependent and as a result the temperature should not be ignored in future blood flow studies. We believe that this finding is important for a better understanding of blood mass transport mechanisms under both physiological and pathological conditions.
authors.affiliation: Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, ESTiG/IPB, C. Sta. Apolónia, 5301-857 Bragança, Portugal; CEFT, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto (FEUP), R. Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pinho
authors.affiliation: Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, ESTiG/IPB, C. Sta. Apolónia, 5301-857 Bragança, Portugal; LCM - Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials - Associate Laboratory LSRE/LCM, Faculdade de Engenharia, da Universidade do Porto (FEUP), R. Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Raquel O
authors.initials: RO
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.affiliation: Unidade de Investigação em Microssistemas Eletromecânicos (MEMS), Campus de Azurém, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal.
authors.forename: Vera
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Faustino
authors.affiliation: Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, ESTiG/IPB, C. Sta. Apolónia, 5301-857 Bragança, Portugal.
authors.forename: Tomoko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yaginuma
authors.affiliation: Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, ESTiG/IPB, C. Sta. Apolónia, 5301-857 Bragança, Portugal.
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Exposto
authors.affiliation: Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, ESTiG/IPB, C. Sta. Apolónia, 5301-857 Bragança, Portugal; CEFT, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto (FEUP), R. Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal; MEtRiCS, DME, School of Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Azurém, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal. Electronic address: rl@dem.uminho.pt.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lima
mesh_terms: D004058:Diffusion; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000502:physiology*; D006400:Hematocrit; D006439:Hemodynamics; D018056:Hemorheology; D006801:Humans; D044085:Microfluidics; D018715:Microscopy, Video; D055806:Microvessels / Q000502:physiology*; D013696:Temperature
keywords: Biomicrofluidics; Blood flow; Confocal micro-PTV; Microcirculation; Radial dispersion; Red blood cells; Temperature