Recent advances in blood rheology: a review

Abstract

Blood rheology shows viscoelastic, thixotropic (using a structural parameter λ) and viscoplastic characteristics shown in steady stress vs. shear-rate data.

Passive high-frequency microrheology of blood

“…Moreover, the outcome of the proposed approach, where the effective microscopic viscoelasticity of plasma is retrieved, can be used as input for more complex models where the multiscale response of blood is attributed to specific contributions. [34][35][36] The microrheological model used in the present work is general and not specific to optical measurements. Nevertheless, from a practical standpoint, the all-optical-fiber implementation of the coherence-gated DLS technique has a number of key advantages such as measurement flexibility, easy access, and incorporation with standard vascular access devices.…”

“…Understanding the complex rheology of blood is critical not only for diagnosing several pathological conditions and for monitoring the effects of certain pharmaceutical therapies, 1,2,34 but also because its major role in a variety of clinical settings where the coagulation status of blood needs to be continuously managed. Unfortunately, common coagulation assays are not always suited for this purpose.…”

“…Moreover, the outcome of the proposed approach, where the effective microscopic viscoelasticity of plasma is retrieved, can be used as input for more complex models where the multiscale response of blood is attributed to specific contributions. 34–36…”

“…1 Moreover, the rheological properties of blood can also be highly non-stationary and can change rapidly over time, as it happens during coagulation. 20 Recent efforts in hemorheology have focused mainly on modelling bulk rheological properties of blood under different regimes of active deformation i.e., steady flow and transient shear, typically outside the linear viscoelastic regime, where large deformations take place, 34 with special attention to the contributions of RBC deformability and rouleaux formation. 35,36 Ultimately, accounting for these contributions in bulk hemorheology can lead to diagnosis of diseases such as sickle cell anaemia, among others.…”

“…32,39,40 Similar Maxwell models are used in traditional bulk rheology where the macroscopic measurements are interpreted equivalently in terms of the complex viscosity. 1,2,34 Notably, more complicated versions of the Maxwell rheological models with a larger number of viscoelastic elements have been used to account for larger-scale effects such as RBCs deformability as well as the formation of rouleaux and clusters, 35,36 and even in attempts to describe the properties of blood clots in the context of viscoelastic solids. 41,42 Maxwell-based descriptions have also been used to quantify the motion of Brownian particles in viscoelastic fluids.…”