Point-of-care Devices: Non-Newtonian Whole Blood Behavior and Capillary Flow on Reagent-coated Walls

Most point-of-care (POC) and patient self-testing (PST) devices are based on the analysis of whole blood taken from a finger prick. Whole blood contains a bountiful of information about the donor's health. We analyze here two particularities of microsystems for blood analysis: the blood non-Newtonian behavior, and the capillary flow in reagent-coated channels. Capillarity is the most commonly used method to move fluids in portable systems. It is shown first that the capillary flow of blood does not follow the Lucas-Washburn-Rideal law when the capillary flow velocity is small, due to its non-Newtonian rheology and to the formation of rouleaux of RBCs. In a second step, the capillary flow of blood on reagent-coated surfaces is investigated; first experimentally by observing the spreading of a droplet of blood on different reagent-coated substrates; second theoretically and numerically using the general law for spontaneous capillary flows and the Evolver numerical program.