The Transport of Nanoparticles in Blood Vessels: The Effect of Vessel Permeability and Blood Rheology

The longitudinal transport of nanoparticles in blood vessels has been analyzed with blood described as a Casson fluid. Starting from the celebrated Taylor and Aris theory, an explicit expression has been derived for the effective longitudinal diffusion (Deff) depending non-linearly on the rheological parameter ξc, the ratio between the plug and the vessel radii; and on the permeability parameters $$\Uppi$$ and $$\Upomega ,$$ related to the hydraulic conductivity and pressure drop across the vessel wall, respectively. An increase of ξc or $$\Uppi$$ has the effect of reducing Deff, and thus both the rheology of blood and the permeability of the vessels may constitute a physiological barrier to the intravascular delivery of nanoparticles.

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