Study On A Practical Silicon Microchannel RBC Deformability Measurement System And The Flow Control Technique

Red blood cell (RBC) have a strong capability of deformability in flow field, its shape can be drawn to oblong with the flow of the blood. The deformability of RBC has important pathology and physiological meanings. The study of RBC deformability is one of the most important study fields of cell rheology. With the development of cell rheology, the present methods of RBC deformability measurement can not satisfy the requirement of cell rheology study. Just under this background, the author studied a new technology of silicon microchannel capillary vessel simulating system, and present a practical RBC deformability measurement system using microchannels array chip.The author introduced the new technology into the study of RBC deformability measurement, designed a microchannels array chip using MEMS technique for measurement of RBC deformability, and the author also presents a practical RBC deformability measurement system as well as flow controlling technique of that. The measurement system has following characteristics:1) The microchannels array chip was fabricated using silicon microfabrication technique, it has a high precision up to sub-micron level, the dimension of the microchannel can be controlled in a large extension. Besides, the microchannels array chip has strong equality and interconvertibility.2) The measurement system realized a multi-parameter measurement, which can reflect the RBC deformability from many aspects.3) The system can capture the video of the RBC going through the micro-channel, which can provide an intuitionistic information for the doctor, as well as the information for further study.4) The flow controlling section has a good performance and applicability, this section can also be used in other micro flow controlling application without great changes.5) The software of the system has a friendly interface and strong flexibility.6 )The primary experiment of the system show that it has a high automatic degree and stable performance, it can also reflect the change of RBC deformability sensitively and simulate the behavior of the RBC going through the capillary vessel at a certain extent.The primary tests of this system show that data and results are almost identicalwith the object of research. This work will push the development of this new RBC deformability measurement method. And we also drew a conclusion that this new method is an economical, convenient, accurate, multi-information and effective method on hemorheology research as well as clinics. The study also makes the foundation for the further development of the new method.