Laser-optic techniques for assessing blood microrheology in health and disease.
- 1Physics Department, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, 119991 Russia.
- 2Dynamics of Fluids, Department of Experimental Physics, Saarland University, 66111 Saarbrücken, Germany.
- 3Department of Physics and Materials Science, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
Abstract
Blood microrheology and microcirculation is a vast field of research focusing on the properties of blood passing through lesser vessels and capillaries. In this part of the circulatory system, red blood cells (RBCs) determine the parameters of the flow, which impact the efficiency of oxygen transport and tissue supply. Various pathologies, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, malaria and sickle cell disease alter parameters of RBCs severely impairing microcirculation. RBC abilities of reversible aggregation and deformation are among the main cellular properties ruling the hemorheology and microcirculation. In this review, we discuss five methods for blood microrheology and microcirculation in vitro studies: optical tweezers, flow chamber-coupled microscopy, laser aggregometry, laser diffractometry (ektacytometry) and flow cytometry. These techniques allow for assessing valuable cellular properties without significant damage to the cells during measurements. Some of the methods are used for studies on the scale of single cells, while others provide summarized parameters of thousands of cells. The possibilities of these techniques to study RBC aggregation and deformability are considered along with recent advances and current limitations.
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BibTeX
@article{maksimov2026laseroptic,
title = {{Laser-optic techniques for assessing blood microrheology in health and disease.}},
author = {Matvei Maksimov and Pavel Moldon and Danila Umerenkov and Kirill Korneev and Andrei Lugovtsov and Christian Wagner and Alexander Priezzhev},
journal = {Biophysical reviews},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1007/s12551-026-01470-7},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42927098},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Laser-optic techniques for assessing blood microrheology in health and disease.
AU - Matvei Maksimov
AU - Pavel Moldon
AU - Danila Umerenkov
AU - Kirill Korneev
AU - Andrei Lugovtsov
AU - Christian Wagner
AU - Alexander Priezzhev
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/01
JO - Biophysical reviews
DO - 10.1007/s12551-026-01470-7
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42927098
AB - Blood microrheology and microcirculation is a vast field of research focusing on the properties of blood passing through lesser vessels and capillaries. In this part of the circulatory system, red blood cells (RBCs) determine the parameters of the flow, which impact the efficiency of oxygen transport and tissue supply. Various pathologies, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, malaria and sickle cell disease alter parameters of RBCs severely impairing microcirculation. RBC abilities of reversible aggregation and deformation are among the main cellular properties ruling the hemorheology and microcirculation. In this review, we discuss five methods for blood microrheology and microcirculation in vitro studies: optical tweezers, flow chamber-coupled microscopy, laser aggregometry, laser diffractometry (ektacytometry) and flow cytometry. These techniques allow for assessing valuable cellular properties without significant damage to the cells during measurements. Some of the methods are used for studies on the scale of single cells, while others provide summarized parameters of thousands of cells. The possibilities of these techniques to study RBC aggregation and deformability are considered along with recent advances and current limitations.
SN - 1867-2450
SN - 1867-2469
ER -