Despite increased interest in the effect of lingering red blood cells (LRBCs) on the heterogeneous hematocrit distribution in the microcirculation, quantitative data on LRBCs before and after the lingering event are still limited. The aim of the study was to investigate the relation between red blood cell (RBC) lingering and hematocrit partitioning in a microfluidic model of a microvascular bifurcation in the limit of low hematocrit conditions (tube hematocrit <10%). To this end, the classification of LRBCs was performed based on timing, position, and velocity of the RBCs. The investigation provided statistical information on the velocity, shape, and orientation of LRBCs as well as on their lateral distribution in the parent and daughter vessels. LRBCs traveled predominantly close to the centerline of the parent vessel, but they marginated close to the distal wall in the daughter vessels. Differently than the RBC flow observed in the smallest vessels, no influence of lingering events on the local hematocrit partitioning was observed in our experiments. However, importantly, we found that LRBCs flowing in the daughter vessel after lingering may be connected to reverse hematocrit partitioning in downstream bifurcations by influencing the skewness of the hematocrit distribution in the daughter vessel, which relates to the so-called network history effect.

中文翻译：

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血细胞比容分配与微流控网络中徘徊的红细胞之间的关系


尽管人们对挥之不去的红细胞 （LRBC） 对微循环中异质性血细胞比容分布的影响越来越感兴趣，但挥之不去的事件前后 LRBC 的定量数据仍然有限。该研究的目的是在低血细胞比容条件（管血细胞比容 <10%）的微血管分叉微流体模型中研究红细胞 （RBC） 挥之不去与血细胞比容分配之间的关系。为此，根据 RBC 的时间、位置和速度对 LRBC 进行分类。该调查提供了有关 LRBC 的速度、形状和方向以及它们在母血管和子血管中的横向分布的统计信息。LRBC 主要靠近母体血管的中心线移动，但它们在子血管的远端壁附近移动。与在最小血管中观察到的 RBC 流不同，在我们的实验中没有观察到挥之不去的事件对局部血细胞比容分配的影响。然而，重要的是，我们发现滞留后流经子血管的 LRBC 可能通过影响子血管中血细胞比容分布的偏度与下游分叉中的反向血细胞比容分配有关，这与所谓的网络历史效应有关。