Abstract
Red blood cells constitute about 45 % of the blood cells and contain haemoglobin which facilitates transportation of oxygen. Even though RBCs usually present shapes similar to circular cushions with a dimple on the side, they can, sometimes, deform into an asymmetrical slipper shape. As RBCs are required to flow through thin capillaries to deliver oxygen to the human body, deformability is crucial when studying microcirculation. By studying their behaviour in blood vessels one can analyse the normal state of these cells and the diseased states. The insights can help to understand the mechanisms involved in arterial disease and other blood flow related conditions. The aim of this work is to analyse RBC behaviour in experimental conduits using image-based techniques. Images were acquired from a micro-channel with a contraction, where the red blood cells experience shear flow near the center-line. RBCs are tracked throughout a digital video sequence and analysed in terms of shape and deformation index at different time frames. Results show that under strong flows, RBC present an extremely deformable behaviour. RBC tracking and image processing techniques are implemented and analysed.
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Acknowledgments
The authors kindly acknowledge the support provided by CEMAT/IST and funding support by the FCT project BIOMIMETIC—PTDC/SAU-ENB/116929/2010. We kindly thank Prof. Rui Lima and his research team from Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, and Prof. Takami Yamaguchi and his research team from Tohoku University, for providing the experimental data.
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João, A., Gambaruto, A. (2014). Image Processing in the Tracking and Analysis of Red Blood Cell Motion in Micro-Circulation Experiments. In: Lima, R., Imai, Y., Ishikawa, T., Oliveira, M. (eds) Visualization and Simulation of Complex Flows in Biomedical Engineering. Lecture Notes in Computational Vision and Biomechanics, vol 12. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7769-9_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7769-9_8
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