2010 Volume 10 Issue Special_Issue Pages s102-s106
Using confocal microscopy, we studied the individual motion of fluorescent platelet-sized latex beads suspended in glycerol-PBS solutions, flowing through a narrow gap of 80 μm width in a PDMS-conical channel with a round ball inside. The trajectories and the velocity profiles of the beads were investigated in the gap region, in the absence or presence of red cells at hematocrit 1%. The presence of red cells enhanced the fluctuations of the bead velocities and often deflected their trajectories from the streamlines of the suspending fluid, especially near the channel wall.