Bubbles moving in blood flow in a microchannel network: the effect on the local hematocrit

Air inside of blood vessels is a phenomenon known as gas embolism. During the past years, studies have been performed to assess the influence of air bubbles in microcirculation. In this study, we investigated the flow of bubbles in a microchannel network with several bifurcations, mimicking part of a capillary system. Thus, two working fluids were used, composed by sheep red blood cells (RBCs) suspended in a Dextran 40 solution with different hematocrits (5% and 10%). The experiments were carried out in a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microchannel network fabricated by a soft lithography. A high-speed video microscopy system was used to obtain the results for a blood flow rate of 10 µL/min. This system enables the visualization of bubble formation and flow along the network. The results showed that the passage of air bubbles strongly influences the cell’s local concentration, since a higher concentration of cells was observed upstream of the bubble, whereas a lower local hematocrit was visualized at the region downstream of the bubble. In bifurcations, bubbles may split asymmetrically, leading to an uneven distribution of RBCs between the outflow branches. This research was funded by Portuguese national funds of FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) through the base funding from the following research units: UIDB/00532/2020 (Transport Phenomena Research Center—CEFT). UIDB/04077/2020 (Research Center (Mechanical Engineering and Resource Sustainability Center—MEtRICs). The authors are also grateful for the partial funding of FCT through the projects PTDC/SAU-ENB/116929/2010, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016861 (ref: PTDC/QEQ-FTT/4287/2014), NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-029394 and NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-030171 funded by COMPETE2020, NORTE2020. PORTUGAL2020 and FEDER. D. Bento acknowledges the PhD scholarship SFRH/BD/91192/2012 granted by FCT.