The role of aggregation kinetics in the sedimentation of erythtocytes.

The well-known S-shaped settling curves are obtained as solutions of an autonomic dynamical system deduced mathematically from the generalized Stokes formula, the blood volume conservation law, and the Smoluchowski theory of particle coagulation. Numerical computations and parametric analysis of the deduced two nonlinear differential equations for the plasma zone thickness and aggregate size are given. It is shown that the model presented makes it possible, on the basis of experimentally recorded sedimentation curves and aggregate size growth, to identify quantitatively the values of the essential physical parameters of the coupled processes of erythrocyte aggregation and sedimentation. This method of identification could be used as a diagnostic test in hematological laboratories.