Title: Cell-free layer analysis in a polydimethysiloxane microchannel: a global approach

Authors: Elmano Pinto; Vera Faustino; Diana Pinho; Raquel O. Rodrigues; Rui A. Lima; Ana I. Pereira

Addresses: Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, ESTiG/IPB, C. Sta. Apolónia, 5301-857 Bragança, Portugal; ALGORITMI, University of Minho, Guimarães, Campus Azurém, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal ' Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, ESTiG/IPB, C. Sta. Apolónia, 5301-857 Bragança, Portugal; ALGORITMI, University of Minho, Guimarães, Campus Azurém, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal ' Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, ESTiG/IPB, C. Sta. Apolónia, 5301-857 Bragança, Portugal; ALGORITMI, University of Minho, Guimarães, Campus Azurém, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal ' Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, ESTiG/IPB, C. Sta. Apolónia, 5301-857 Bragança, Portugal; ALGORITMI, University of Minho, Guimarães, Campus Azurém, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal ' Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, ESTiG/IPB, C. Sta. Apolónia, 5301-857 Bragança, Portugal; ALGORITMI, University of Minho, Guimarães, Campus Azurém, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal ' Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, ESTiG/IPB, C. Sta. Apolónia, 5301-857 Bragança, Portugal; ALGORITMI, University of Minho, Guimarães, Campus Azurém, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal

Abstract: The cell-free layer (CFL) is a hemodynamic phenomenon that has an important contribution to the rheological properties of blood flowing in microvessels. The present work aims to find the closest function describing RBCs flowing around the cell depleted layer in a polydimethysiloxane (PDMS) microchannel with a diverging and a converging bifurcation. The flow behaviour of the CFL was investigated by using a high-speed video microscopy system where special attention was devoted to its behaviour before the bifurcation and after the confluence of the microchannel. The numerical data was first obtained by using a manual tracking plugin and then analysed using the genetic algorithm approach. The results show that for the majority of the cases the function that more closely resembles the CFL boundary is the sum of trigonometric functions.

Keywords: red blood cells; RBCs; cell-free layers; CFL; nonlinear optimisation; global optimisation; layer analysis; polydimethysiloxane; PDMS microchannels; hemodynamics; rheology; blood flow; genetic algorithms.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMEI.2016.077437

International Journal of Medical Engineering and Informatics, 2016 Vol.8 No.3, pp.196 - 209

Accepted: 24 Oct 2015
Published online: 30 Jun 2016 *

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