Dominik Obrist: The role of red blood cells in cerebral blood perfusion

Abstract:  The cerebral circulation must ensure continuous blood perfusion of the brain which is the biggest oxygen consumer in the human body. It must also provide mechanisms for adaptability to changing oxygen demand as well as resilience to local blockages. We will look at such mechanisms at the level of the microcirculation where the mechanics of blood flow is dominated by red blood cells. We will find that red blood cells do not only play the role of oxygen carriers, but that they are an important element of blood flow regulation itself. To this end, we will compare results from in vitro studies in microfluidic chips to theoretical and computational models and to in vivo data from mice. We will derive local auto-regulation mechanisms for blood flow and will study how local modifications in the vascular network can modify the global hematocrit distribution. These results will emphasize the relevance of red blood cell mechanics and microvascular network geometry in cerebral blood perfusion.

This talk is part of the Mechanics Lunch Seminar series. Bring-your-own-lunch and lots of questions.