Rheology and structure of blood suspensions

¹ Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, and Medical Research Department and Medical Service, Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts

A structural model developed for kaolin suspensions was applied to blood in order to determine the structure and strength of the red cell suspensions. The yield stress of red cell suspensions determined in settling experiments agreed with the yield stress determined from shear stress-shear rate information employing Casson's equation. Theoretical considerations indicate that the shear stress-shear rate curve for blood should approach a straight line. This was found to be true at shear rates above 40 sec^–1. The slope of this line was predicted from calculations based on sedimentation experiments and a modified Einstein's equation. The data suggest that the curvature of the shear stress-shear rate plot at low shear rates is due to aggregates of cells which break down under increasing shear rate, resulting finally in individual flocs. It is suggested that a floc consists of one to four cells with adhering plasma. The aggregate was calculated to have twice as much plasma associated with it as does a floc. However, the size of the aggregate could not be determined since the number of flocs associated with an aggregate could not be determined.

Submitted on February 28, 1963