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Biorheology is an international interdisciplinary journal that publishes research on the deformation and flow properties of biological systems or materials. It is the aim of the editors and publishers of
Biorheology to bring together contributions from those working in various fields of biorheological research from all over the world. A diverse editorial board with broad international representation provides guidance and expertise in wide-ranging applications of rheological methods to biological systems and materials.
The aim of biorheological research is to determine and characterize the dynamics of physiological processes at all levels of organization. Manuscripts should report original theoretical and/or experimental research promoting the scientific and technological advances in a broad field that ranges from the rheology of macromolecules and macromolecular arrays to cell, tissue and organ rheology. In all these areas, the interrelationships of rheological properties of the systems or materials investigated and their structural and functional aspects are stressed.
The scope of papers solicited by
Biorheology extends to systems at different levels of organization that have never been studied before, or, if studied previously, have either never been analyzed in terms of their rheological properties or have not been studied from the point of view of the rheological matching between their structural and functional properties. This biorheological approach applies in particular to molecular studies where changes of physical properties and conformation are investigated without reference to how the process actually takes place, how the forces generated are matched to the properties of the structures and environment concerned, proper time scales, or what structures or strength of structures are required.
Biorheology invites papers in which such 'molecular biorheological' aspects, whether in animal or plant systems, are examined and discussed. While we emphasize the biorheology of physiological function in organs and systems, the biorheology of disease is of equal interest. Biorheological analyses of pathological processes and their clinical implications are encouraged, including basic clinical research on hemodynamics and hemorheology.
In keeping with the rapidly developing fields of mechanobiology and regenerative medicine,
Biorheology aims to include studies of the rheological aspects of these fields by focusing on the dynamics of mechanical stress formation and the response of biological materials at the molecular and cellular level resulting from fluid-solid interactions. With increasing focus on new applications of nanotechnology to biological systems, rheological studies of the behavior of biological materials in therapeutic or diagnostic medical devices operating at the micro and nano scales are most welcome.
Abstract: A metastasis is a cancer which is not in contiguity with the primary tumor from which it arose. The major clinical problem in many people with so-called “solid” cancers lies not in dealing with their primary lesion, but rather in dealing with the metastases generated from these lesions. This is dramatically shown by comparing the 5-year survival rates of patients with and without overt metastases at the time of diagnosis (Axtell, L.M., Asire, A.J. and Myers, M.H. (Eds.). Cancer Patient Survival Rep. No. 5 , DHEW Publ. No. (NIH) 77–992. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Gov. Print Office, 1976).
Keywords: Metastasis, cancer cells, microcirculation
DOI: 10.3233/BIR-1987-24202
Citation: Biorheology,
vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 89-92, 1987
Abstract: The blood-stream is the major disseminative route for metastasizing cancer cells, and metastases are generated when the cancer “microemboli” are trapped in the microcirculation. However, most circulating cancer cells are rapidly destroyed shortly before and/or after arrest. Traditionally, destruction is attributed to the cellular or humoral response of the host defense systems. A novel, non-exclusive mechanism for cancer cell destruction has been proposed by Weiss and Dimitrov in which friction or adhesion between circulating cancer cells and capillary walls causes local vascular blockage, and the blood-pressure differentials normally existing over the entire length of a capillary are consequently applied over…the length of the cancer cell. In a simple model, this pressure differential is expected to cause expansion of the cancer cell membrane, resulting in increases in tension above a critical level, with consequent membrane rupture and cell death. In vivo and in vitro experimental tests of this hypothesis are outlined.
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Keywords: Microcirculation, metastasis, cancer cells, rheology
DOI: 10.3233/BIR-1987-24204
Citation: Biorheology,
vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 105-115, 1987
Abstract: Interactions of cancer cells with the microvasculature and the interstitium of non-malignant tissue were studied in a rabbit ear chamber preparation using intravital fluorescent microscopy. Injection of VX2 carcinoma cells into the auricular artery feeding the chamber led to mechanical entrapment, adhesion, and in some instances, extravasation of cancer cells. Implantation of VX2 cells in the interstitial space led to increases in the interstitial diffusion coefficients and the microvascular permeability. Our results are compared with those available in literature and directions for future research are pointed out.
Abstract: The transport of leukocytes in the microcirculation is specific for the type, size, and the rheological and adhesive properties, the microanatomy of the host organ, and the hemodynamics. The adhesion to the endothelium is determined largely by the degree of activation via chemotactic factors. Leukocyte motion differs from that of red cells or platelets in several respects. When granulocytes enter into capillaries, they are deformed just like red cells. Under normal flow conditions, the time to deform at the entry to capillaries is typically 1,000 times larger than for the red cell, leading to temporary obstruction of the capillaries. After…entry, granulocytes move with lower velocity than red cells which causes a cell train formation inside the capillary. At the venular side, the granulocyte is displaced from the center stream toward the endothelium by faster moving red cells. This process leads to systematic attachment of the granulocytes to the endothelium. At a reduced perfusion pressure or in the presence of locally elevated levels of chemotactic factors, the granulocytes may not be able to pass through the capillary network, which leads to microvascular obstruction. Organs with a narrow capillary network may thereby become filters for circulating granulocytes. This event is accompanied in many situations with damage to the host organ.
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Keywords: Leukocytes, microcirculation
DOI: 10.3233/BIR-1987-24207
Citation: Biorheology,
vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 139-151, 1987
Abstract: We have measured volume fraction dependence of the sedimentation curve of swine erythrocytes in a physiological saline solution at 10°C, 20°C, 30°C and 40°C. The sedimentation curves were found to consist of initial constant velocity region and final plateau region at the lower temperatures of 10°C and 20°C. while modified S-shaped curves were observed at the higher temperatures of 30°C and 40°C. The volume fraction dependence of the initial slope ν of the sedimentation curve was fitted well to the following exponential type equation at all the temperatures: ν = ν s , exp…( 1 − H ) exp − ( BH + CH 2 ) where ν s , exp is the velocity in infinite dilution corresponding to the Stokes velocity and H is the volume fraction of erythrocytes. The volume fraction dependence of the relative velocity ν / ν s , exp was in close agreement with a semi-empirical equation derived for slurrys in the field of chemical engineering at the lower temperatures. while a small deviation between the observed and calculated curves was found at the higher temperatures. The volume fraction dependence of ν at 20°C was also analyzed on a theory recently developed by Oka. The explicit functional form of the medium up-flow factor ϕ (H) and the deformability factor f in the theory were determined using the experimental data.
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Abstract: Vasodilated guinea pig livers were perfused with normal erythrocytes and echinocytes suspended in isoviscous high- and low-molecular-weight dextran solutions. The relative flow resistance of these suspensions and the oxygen uptake of the livers were then determined. The relative flow resistance of the echinocytes that were suspended in high-molecular-weight dextran, however, was significantly higher than that of any other red cell suspension. The oxygen uptake was independent of the perfusion media. It is proposed that high-molecular-weight dextran induces echinocytes to attach to one another, and that this clumping together, and shape-transformation of red cells, hinders their flow in the vasodilated…liver.
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Keywords: erythrocytes, viscosity, liver perfusion, oxygen consumption, bile acids
DOI: 10.3233/BIR-1987-24209
Citation: Biorheology,
vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 163-171, 1987
Abstract: A theory for the rheological behavior and fluid flux in swelling tissues under small deformations is presented. Tissues are considered as bicomponent solid-fluid mixtures. Concentration effects are included. The driving forces (body, surface and interactive), are discussed and their constitutive relationships to the tissue’s deformation are specified. Mass and momentum balance equations are developed for each component and for the tissue as a whole. The concept of swelling stress emerges from the theory as an anisotropic generalization of the commonly used swelling pressure. It is shown to be a measure of the total chemical potential combining both mechanical and concentration…effects. The theory shows that concentration effects modify the tissue’s bulk stiffness in a manner consistent with experimental observations.
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Abstract: The response of a cartilage disc to unconfined compressive loading under small deformations is analyzed. The cartilage is considered as a transversely isotropic bicomponent (solid-fluid) tissue. Concentration effects (commonly termed osmotic pressure) are accounted for. The tissue’s permeability is taken to be isotropic. Its concentration force is assumed to vary linearly with volume. The analysis shows that if the tissue’s fibrous structure is taken into consideration, then the instantaneous response to a step loading depends on the tissue’s elasticity and on its concentration force. The subsequent creep response, under commonly used experimental conditions, has a time constant which depends…on the concentration force and permeability, but independent of its elastic response. The equilibrium volume is predicted to depend only on the concentration force. Where data is available it confirms the model’s predictions. It is concluded from the present analysis that inclusion of concentration effects and the tissue’s fibrous structure has significant consequences in terms of the relative roles of the collagen fibers (solid) vs. the ground substance (fluid) in the response of the cartilage to compressive loading.
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Abstract: Measurements were made of the viscosity of suspensions of synthetic erythrocytes composed of hemoglobin solutions encapsulated in liposomes, as a function of shear rate, temperature, suspension concentration, lipid membrane composition, and the viscosity of the suspending medium. It was found that the viscous behavior of the synthetic erythrocyte suspensions was non-Newtonian and nearly the same as that of suspensions of natural erythrocytes prepared similarly, with the major difference being that synthetic erythrocyte suspensions are somewhat more viscous. Suspensions of Fluosol FC-43 prepared similarly were found to be essentially Newtonian fluids, and substantially different and more viscous than either erythrocyte suspension.…The higher viscosity of synthetic erythrocyte suspensions probably accounts for the ability of these suspensions to maintain normal systemic vascular resistance in transfusion experiments, in spite of the fact that synthetic erythrocytes are smaller than natural erythrocytes.
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Abstract: The bulk modulus of a dilutely dispersed system of spherical shell structures is obtained taking into account interfacial tensions at both the interfaces of the shell as follows: κ ∗ = κ Q + 4 3 c μ Q ′ Q − c Q ′ where Q = K ′ K m − Δ K ′ Δ MA 3 , Q…′ = K ′ Δ K − Δ K ′ KA 3 , K m = 3 κ m + 4 μ − 2 γ / a , Δ K = 3 κ m − 3 κ − 2 γ / a , Δ M = 4 μ m − 4 μ + 2 γ / a , K = 4 μ m + 3 κ + 2 γ / a , K ′ = 3 κ ′ + 4 μ m − 2 γ ′ / a ′ , Δ K ′ = 3 κ m − 3 κ ′ + 2 γ ′ / a ′ , A = a′/a, a and a′ are the outer and the inner radii of the shell, γ and γ ′ the interfacial tensions at r = a and r = a′, in which r is the radial distance from the origin at the center of the shell structure, κ and μ the bulk modulus and the rigidity of the medium, in which the prime and the subscripts m denote the quantities for the inside (r<a′) and the shell (a′<r<a) regions, respectively, and c the volume concentration of shell structures.
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Abstract: The following paper is a brief presentation of problems related to the concepts of diffusion coefficient D and so-called viscosity η used to characterize the cohesion of biological membranes. The first approach to this problem is a recall of the definition of D and η in liquids. It appears that the models developed with exogenous probes to account for the diffusion-viscosity relationship are not verified in membranes. The existence of complex diffusional mechanisms, the influence of the size of the probe are presented. The results of a model calculation suggest that there is no direct correlation other than…great simplifications, between the diffusion coefficient and viscosity. The calculations are then extended to actual biological assemblies and the influence of proteins on the motion of the probe considered. The limitations of the methods involving exogeneous probes for determining the cohesion of biological membranes are discussed.
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