Near-wall excess of platelets induced by lateral migration of erythrocytes in flowing blood.

In this study we present experimental data on the inhomogeneous distribution of platelets in polyethylene tubes (200 microns diam) based on the inverse Fåhraeus effect for platelets. It is shown that platelets are expelled toward the red blood cell-depleted marginal layer near the tube wall by mutual interaction with erythrocytes. By means of a straightforward model, the near-wall concentration of platelets could be estimated from measurements on the average tubular platelet concentration. The marginal layer originates from the hydrodynamic interaction of the deformable erythrocytes with the tube wall. If the tube diameter is large compared with the size of the erythrocytes, the lateral migration effects can effectively be scaled on the absolute distance between the erythrocytes and the tube wall. This results in the main conclusion that the near-wall concentration of platelets is significantly enhanced up to about seven times the average concentration, practically irrespective of the tube diameter in the range of 100-500 microns. Where comparable, the results of this study are in accordance with experimental data of other authors.