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The development of rheometry for strain-sensitive gelling systems and its application in a study of fibrin–thrombin gel formation

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Abstract

This paper reports simulated sequential frequency sweep data which have been reconstructed from time resolved viscoelastic data obtained by Fourier transform mechanical spectroscopy. Comparisons of the results show that the recording of anomalous values of the stress relaxation power law exponent α at the Gel Point under ‘rapid’ gelling conditions may be due to inappropriate rheological techniques. An appropriate rheometrical criterion is established for the application of sequential frequency sweeps in order to obtain accurate values of α in the formation of strain-sensitive, rapidly formed gels. Furthermore, using appropriate rheometry, we report values of α for fibrin–thrombin gels formed by the addition of thrombin to a physiologically relevant level of human fibrinogen, and relate these values to the microstructure of the fibrin gel network in terms of a fractal dimension. The present study is the first to report a modification of the fractal characteristics of incipient clots in fibrin–thrombin gels due to the availability of thrombin. This work confirms the hypothesis that the self-similar (fractal) stress relaxation behaviour recorded at the Gel Point of samples of coagulating blood (Evans et al. 2010a, b) is associated with the microstructural characteristics of the incipient blood clot’s fibrin network.

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Acknowledgement

The authors are grateful for the support of EPSRC grant EP/C513037/1 in this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Life Science, School of Medicine, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK

    Karl Hawkins, P. Adrian Evans & Matthew Lawrence

  2. Multidisciplinary Nanotechnology Centre, School of Engineering, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK

    Daniel Curtis, Marc Davies & P. Rhodri Williams

Authors
  1. Karl Hawkins
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  2. P. Adrian Evans
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  3. Matthew Lawrence
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  4. Daniel Curtis
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  5. Marc Davies
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  6. P. Rhodri Williams
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Correspondence to Karl Hawkins.

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Hawkins, K., Evans, P.A., Lawrence, M. et al. The development of rheometry for strain-sensitive gelling systems and its application in a study of fibrin–thrombin gel formation. Rheol Acta 49, 891–900 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00397-010-0473-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00397-010-0473-6

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