Hemorheological approach to oxygen transport between blood and tissue

Issue title: Special Issue for the Fifth International Congress of Biorheology. Part II. Baden-Baden, F.R. Germany, 20–24 August 1983

Guest editors: Alfred L. Copley and Siegfried Witte

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Niimi, Hideyuki | Sugihara, Masako

Affiliations: National Cardiovascular Center Research Institute, Suita, Osaka, Japan

Abstract: A mathematical model is developed to elucidate microhemorheological factors of the oxygen transport between blood and tissue. A two-fluids model is introduced for capillary blood flow, including the non-equilibrium and relative motion between red blood cell (RBC) and plasma. A capillary-tissue unit is devised to describe the oxygen supply to tissue from a couple of capillaries with symmetric antiparallel input and output. Non-equilibrium flows are examined numerically on the basis of the model for various geometrical and dynamical parameters such capillary hematocrit, RBC velocity and flux. It is found that both RBC flux and capillary hematocrit have important influences on the oxygen transfer to tissue. Especially under low capillary hematocrit flow, the lowest oxygen pressure within tissue may appear at the maximal difusional distance from the capillary between arterial and venous side.

Keywords: capillary blood flow, hematocrit, microhemorheology, oxygen supply, tissue oxygenation, two-fluids model

DOI: 10.3233/BIR-1984-21405

Journal: Biorheology, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 445-461, 1984