Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Creating a physiologically relevant shear stress in organ-on-a-chip (OOC) devices requires careful tailoring of microfluidic flow parameters. Currently, it is fairly common to use a simple approximation assuming constant viscosity, even for serum-based media. Here, we show that a popular nutrient solution (Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium supplemented with Fetal Bovine Serum) requires a more complex treatment (i.e., is a non-Newtonian fluid), with observed shear stress values significantly greater than reported in literature. We measure the rheology of the solutions and combine it with a 3-dimensional flow field measurement to derive shear stress at the channel surface. We verify the experiments with numerical simulations, finding good agreement and deriving flow properties. Finally, we provide relevant expressions for the shear stress approximation, suitable for development of OOC devices with various geometries.
Source: PLoS ONE
Institutions: University of Latvia, Institute of Solid State Physics, UL
Language: English
Subfield: Biomedical Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,382
OpenAlex ID: W4411359142