Visualization of red blood cells flowing through a PDMS microchannel with a microstenosis: an image analysis assessment

The present study aims to assess the motion of red blood cells (RBCs) under both shear and extensional flow using an image based technique. For this purpose, a microchannel having a smooth contraction was used and the images were captured by a standard high-speed microscopy system. An image processing and analyzing method has been developed in the MATLAB environment, to track the RBCs motion. The keyhole model, tested in this study, proved to be a promising technique to track individual RBCs in microchannels.The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by 2007 Global COE Program “Global Nano-Biomedical Engineering Education and Research Network”, Japan and grant-in-Aid for Science and Technology PTDC/SAU-BEB/108728/2008, PTDC/SAU-BEB/105650/2008, PTDC/EME-MFE/099109/2008 and PTDC/SAU-ENB/116929/2010 from FCT (Science and Technology Foundation), COMPETE, QREN and European Union (FEDER).