Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 188101 (2009) [4 pages]Why Do Red Blood Cells Have Asymmetric Shapes Even in a Symmetric Flow?
See accompanying Physics Viewpoint 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. © 2009 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.188101
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.188101
PACS:
87.16.D−, 83.50.Ha, 83.80.Lz, 87.19.rh
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