Abstract
It is the first step to proper appreciation of human cardiovascular system to clarify the microcirculatory blood flow. Especially, because of red blood cell (RBC) play an indispensable role in mass and gas transfer in capillary vessel, it is important to make clear the behavior of RBC in capillary. And it is well know that RBC passes through capillary whose diameter is smaller than that of RBC with small pressure gradients. In this study, new micro-channel array devices which are able to adapt to evaluating both the throughput of whole blood and the deformability of RBC are developed. As a result of observing RBC in micro channel, deformation of RBC can observed clearly. And 3 kinds of typical deformation were observed. In the case of bullet-shaped deformation, the RBC was not deformed as the well known parachute-shape in narrowest capillary vessel whose diameter was smaller than RBC diameter.
