SKM 2023 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 11: Poster Session I

BP 11.60: Poster

Dienstag, 28. März 2023, 12:30–15:30, P1

Delay time of erythrocyte sedimentation rate — •Jan Fischer, Thomas John, Lars Kaestner, Christian Wagner, and Alexis Darras — Experimental Physics, Saarland University; D-66123 Saarbrücken, Germany

In many suspensions of microscopic particles, ranging from cosmetic creams to food dough to oil paints, the suspended sate is only transient. Indeed, unless the densities of particles and fluid are perfectly matched, gravity eventually separates the two phases. In many practical cases with a high concentration of particles, this separation happens as a sudden "collapse" after a long period (sometimes months or years) where no separation was observed. This phenomenon actually defines the life span of many practical products.

Our group recently demonstrated that red blood cells (aka erythrocytes) follow the same behavior on short time scales. This has practical application, since their average sedimentation rate is used as a medical parameter. However, while it is known that the collapse delay time has an intrinsic random component for thermal suspensions, it is not clear whether it is the case for red cells, which are mainly athermal.

For the first time, we characterized the variability of the delay time for a given suspension of red blood cells. Moreover, the influence of various parameters unique to red blood cells, such as cell shape and rigidity, has been studied and correlated with the microstruture of the red blood cells aggregates.