Devices for modern heart support are minimized to reduce priming blood volume and contact area with foreign surfaces. Their flow fields are partly governed by very high velocity gradients. In order to investigate blood damage, porcine and @entity1 blood was passed through a narrow Couette type shear gap applying defined high shear rates within the typical range for devices such as @entity1503 or artificial heart valves (gamma = 1800/s to 110,000/s for 400 ms). Traumatization profiles of both blood species were recorded in terms of @entity2142 and platelet count. Sublethal damage in terms of platelet ( @entity18042 ) and complement activation ( @entity2242 ) was additionally measured for @entity1 blood. Results for porcine and @entity1 blood were very similar. @entity2142 was not started until critical shear rates of about 80,000/s. Impact on platelets was severe with drops in cell count of up to 65% (at gamma = 55,000/s to 110,000/s) likely to set stronger limits to the design layout of devices than @entity2142 . Concentrations of @entity18042 and @entity2242 clearly increased with shear rate exhibiting stronger gradients where @entity2142 started. Due to the similar results of porcine and @entity1 blood for @entity2142 and platelet drop, porcine blood seems to be suitable for device testing. Selection of blood species would thus depend on handling, availability and analysis demands.

In vitro blood damage by high shear flow: XXXX versus porcine blood.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['human'] @entity18042 :: ('5196', 'Gene') :: ['PF4'] @entity1503 :: ('MESH:D006402', 'Disease') :: ['blood pumps'] @entity2242 :: ('728', 'Gene') :: ['C5a'] @entity2142 :: ('MESH:D006461', 'Disease') :: ['hemolysis', 'Hemolysis']
@entity1 :: (9606,Species) :: ['human']
