Separation of red blood cells at high volume concentration under low centrifugal accelerations

Issue title: 25th Anniversary Volume. Perspectives in Biorheology II. Festschrift for Syoten Oka

Guest editors: Eiichi Fukada and Takehiko Azuma

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Lerche, Dietmar | Bilsing, Rainer

Affiliations: Humboldt-Universität, Institut für medizinische Physik und Biophysik, Abt. Haemorheologie und Haemodynamik, Berlin, DDR-1040, German Democratic Republic

Abstract: The separation process of blood and RBC suspensions in a hematocrit range between 0.3 – 0.7 was investigated with a centrifuge allowed to run at low accelerations (100 xg – 1000 xg). The position of the interface between the supernatant of plasma and the RBC column was continuously recorded by a new optoelectronic measuring system. The separation process could be mathematically described by an exponential decrease of the cell column approaching a final packing. At a given centrifugal acceleration the time constant is influenced by hematocrit, aggregation, deformation and plasma viscosity. The final packing depends linearly on the starting hematocrit (0.3 – 0.7) and can be used as a measure of deformability.

Keywords: RBC, sedimentation, packing, centrifugation, deformability, aggregability, hematocrit

DOI: 10.3233/BIR-1988-251-233

Journal: Biorheology, vol. 25, no. 1-2, pp. 245-252, 1988