FLOW-DEPENDENT PLATELET BEHAVIOR IN BLOOD-MATERIAL INTERACTIONS

Platelet activation and adhesion are important parameters characterizi ng blood compatibility of biomaterials. A platelet transport theory ba sed on convection diffusion, which describes the influence of wall she ar rate, platelet concentration, axial position, hematocrit and red ce ll size, was originally proposed by Turitto and Baumgartner and later expanded by Aarts. This theory was applied in an in vitro perfusion sy stem for three different materials with wall shear rates between 100 s (-1) and 4300 s(-1) in order to cover the regions of diffusion control led, reaction controlled and intermediate platelet adherence. Platelet diffusivity a nd platelet vessel wall surface reactivity were determi ned for these cases and the constants m and n were calculated using th e relation between platelet diffusivity and shear rate as expressed by the following power law function: D-w = mgamma(w)(n).