Abstract
The present study investigated the effect of transverse vibration on the hemo‐rheological characteristics of blood flow using a newly designed pressure‐scanning capillary viscometer. As a transverse vibration was applied, aggregated blood cells become disaggregated. Frequency of vibration was found to be the main parameter causing hemo‐rheological changes. For RBC suspension in a non‐aggregating medium (Dextran 40), increasing frequency of vibration caused decreased flow resistance. Meanwhile, flow resistance for whole blood increased with frequency of vibration. These seemingly contradictory results could be interpreted without conflict when a comprehensive mechanism of cell migration under vibration is elucidated. The present study confirmed that vibration diminishes RBC aggregation, which triggers two different cell migration mechanisms and subsequently resulted in either increasing or decreasing the flow resistance.