Uniform lateral orientation, caused by flow forces, of flat particles in flow-through systems.

Recently, it was shown that the lateral orientation of sperm cells disturbs the deoxyribonucleic acid distribution measured by fluorescence in a laterally laser-illuminated flow system. The present results show how flat particles may be influenced to assume a uniform lateral orientation. This was achieved by choosing the geometrical dimensions of the hydrodynamic focusing flow path. High speed photographs of fixed chicken erythrocytes oriented in experimental chambers are presented.