Why do red blood cells have asymmetric shapes even in a symmetric flow?

نویسندگان

  • Badr Kaoui
  • George Biros
  • Chaouqi Misbah
چکیده

Understanding why red blood cells (RBCs) move with an asymmetric shape (slipperlike shape) in small blood vessels is a long-standing puzzle in blood circulatory research. By considering a vesicle (a model system for RBCs), we discovered that the slipper shape results from a loss in stability of the symmetric shape. It is shown that the adoption of a slipper shape causes a significant decrease in the velocity difference between the cell and the imposed flow, thus providing higher flow efficiency for RBCs. Higher membrane rigidity leads to a dramatic change in the slipper morphology, thus offering a potential diagnostic tool for cell pathologies.

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عنوان ژورنال:
  • Physical review letters

دوره 103 18  شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2009