'STUDENT LAB'-ON-A-CHIP: Integrating Low-Cost Microfluidics Into Undergraduate Teaching Labs to Study Multiphase Flow Phenomena in Small Vessels

摘要

Blood is a complex fluid composed of cells and other biomolecules suspended in plasma. Its main function is to carry oxygen and nutrients to organs and tissues in the body, while also serving as a transport mechanism for elements of the immune system. Because of its composition, blood is a non-Newtonian, shear-thinning fluid that becomes less viscous at higher shear rates, and flows only after overcoming a yield stress that induces rouleaux breakup. Rheological properties of blood are altered under certain pathological conditions, such as sickle cell anemia where abnormalities in red blood cell (RBC) morphology and stiffness result in cell clumping, lower RBC levels, and ultimately higher effective viscosity. Knowledge of blood rheology is therefore fundamental not only to physiologists and biologists, but also to engineers who wish to design biomedical devices, engineer replacement blood vessels, or model blood flow patterns in vivo.