The Effect of Transverse Vibration on Red Blood Cell Aggregation and Blood Viscosity

The present study investigated the effect of transverse vibration on the hemorheological characteristics of blood using a newly designed pressure-scanning capillary viscometer. As vibration was applied, aggregated blood cells (rouleaux) were disaggregated. The range of vibration frequency and amplitude are $0{\sim}100\;Hz$ and $0{\sim}0.8\;mm$, respectively for a capillary diameter 0.84 mm. As vibration increased, blood viscosity initially increased and tended to decrease. In order to delineate the unexpected results, the present study proposed two counteracting mechanisms of vibration related with red blood cell (RBC) aggregation affecting hemo-rheological properties. One is the reduction of RBC aggregation due to vibration causing an increase of blood viscosity. The other is forced cell migration due to the transverse vibration, which in turn forms a cell-free layer near the tube wall and causes a decrease of flow resistance.