Experimental validation of the power law hemolysis model using a Couette shearing device

Abstract

Background: The study of blood trauma, such as hemolysis in blood-carrying devices, is crucial due to the high incidence of adverse events like alteration of blood function, bleeding, and multi-organ failure. The extent of flow-induced hemolysis, predominantly influenced by stress duration and intensity, is described by established model parameters based on the power law approach. In recent years, various parameters were determined using different Couette shearing devices and donor species. However, they have not been validated due to limited experimental data. Methods: This study provides hemolysis measurements in a Couette shearing device and evaluates the suitability of different power law parameters. The revised Couette shearing device generates well-defined dynamic stress loads that are repeatedly applied to blood samples at a defined temperature. Human blood samples with an adjusted hematocrit of 30%, were tested with varying repetitions (20 to 80 times). The half-sinusoidal stress loads had amplitudes of 73 to 140 Pa and exposure times of 24 msec per repetition. The parameters of five common power law hemolysis approaches were then compared with the experimental data. Results: The prediction with the power law model parameters C = 3.458 × 10−6, α = 0.2777 and β = 2.0639 showed a good agreement with the experimental results. Conclusion: The effect of multiple short-time stresses on hemolysis was investigated to validate the power law hemolysis model with the Couette shearing device of this study.