Arterial thrombi consist mainly of platelets and fibrin, the biopolymer pro
duced in the final step of the coagulation cascade. Thrombus fragmentation
may result in occlusion of smaller distal vessels (embolization), a serious
and often fatal event. The objective of this study is to investigate the r
ole of the fibrin polymer network on the resistance of a clot to fragmentat
ion under shear flow. For that purpose, a fibrin clot model representative
of native clots is submitted to a shear flow that reproduces the pathophysi
ological range of sheer stress.
The adhesion force due to specific fibrin/fibrin interactions is determined
from the measurement of the shear stress producing 50% detachment of model
particles of blood platelets embedded in the clot. This force was found to
be several orders higher than the nonspecific colloidal forces between sur
faces, which can, thus, be neglected. Influence of the number of fibrin mon
olayers in the clot model on adhesion force is investigated.