Bubbles Moving in Blood Flow in a Microchannel Network: The Effect on the Local Hematocrit

Micromachines

João M. Miranda¹  Rui Lima¹  David Bento¹  Inês Maia²  Sara Lopes³ 

[1]CEFT, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto (FEUP) Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal

[2]Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal

[3]Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, ESTiG/IPB, C. Sta. Apolónia, 5300-857 Bragança, Portugal

关键词: blood flow;    gas embolism;    microcirculation;    bifurcations;    network;   

DOI  :  10.3390/mi11040344

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Air inside of blood vessels is a phenomenon known as gas embolism. During the past years, studies have been performed to assess the influence of air bubbles in microcirculation. In this study, we investigated the flow of bubbles in a microchannel network with several bifurcations, mimicking part of a capillary system. Thus, two working fluids were used, composed by sheep red blood cells (RBCs) suspended in a Dextran 40 solution with different hematocrits (5% and 10%). The experiments were carried out in a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microchannel network fabricated by a soft lithography. A high-speed video microscopy system was used to obtain the results for a blood flow rate of 10 µL/min. This system enables the visualization of bubble formation and flow along the network. The results showed that the passage of air bubbles strongly influences the cell’s local concentration, since a higher concentration of cells was observed upstream of the bubble, whereas a lower local hematocrit was visualized at the region downstream of the bubble. In bifurcations, bubbles may split asymmetrically, leading to an uneven distribution of RBCs between the outflow branches.

【 授权许可】

Unknown