Red blood cells (RBCs) visualisation in bifurcations and bends

Abstract

Bifurcating networks are commonly found in nature. One example is the microvascular system, composed of blood vessels consecutively branching into daughter vessels, driving the blood into the capillaries, where the red blood cells (RBCs) are responsible for delivering O2 and up taking cell waste and CO2. In this preliminary study, we explore a microfluidic bifurcating geometry inspired by such biological models, for investigating RBC partitioning as well as RBC-plasma separation favored by the consecutive bifurcating channels. A biomimetic design rule [1] based on Murray’s law [2] was used to set the channels’ dimensions along the network, which consists of consecutive bifurcating channels of reducing diameter. The ability to apply differential flow resistances by controlling the flow rates at the end of the network allowed us to monitor the formation of a cell-free layer (CFL) for different flow conditions at haematocrits of 1% and 5%. We have also compared the values of CFL thickness determined directly by the measurement on the projection image created from a stack of images or indirectly by analyzing the intensity profile in the same projection. The results obtained from this study confirm the potential to study RBC partitioning along bifurcating networks, which could be of particular interest for the separation of RBCs from plasma in point-of-care devices.