Affiliations: Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Unité 424, Fédération de Recherche “Odontologie”, Université Louis Pasteur, 11, rue Humann, 67085 Strasbourg Cedex, France | Laboratoire d’Hémorhéologie et d’Hématologie, Equipe d’Accueil 1728 et Equipe FR CNRS W0070, Faculté de Médecine, Brabois, Boîte Postale 184, 54505 Vandoeuvre‐lès‐Nancy Cedex, France | Institut Charles Sadron, Unité de Recherches Associée 405 du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 6, rue Boussingault, 67083 Strasbourg Cedex, France | Ecole Européenne de Chimie, Polymères et Matériaux de Strasbourg, 1, rue Blaise Pascal, Boîte Postale 296F, 67008 Strasbourg Cedex, France, et Institut Universitaire de France
Abstract: Discoid red blood cells (RBCs) deposited irreversibly on a horizontal glass surface are studied by means of optical microscopy and image analysis. The relative surface covered by the RBCs, as well as the variance of this surface coverage as a function of the cell concentration, are analyzed and compared to the results derived from the ballistic deposition (BD) model. This model describes the irreversible deposition of spherical particles under the influence of an infinitely large gravitation force and does not allow for overlaps between adsorbed particles. In spite of these characteristics, the BD model permits, surprisingly, to reproduce our experimental observations on the deposition of RBCs on a flat surface. This finding is dicussed, in particular in respect to a former study where a model was developed for colloidal particles of this particular geometric shape.
Keywords: Erythrocytes, image processing, random deposition models
