Red blood cell (RBC) aggregates play an important role in determining blood rheology. RBCs in plasma or polymer solution interact attractively to form various shapes of RBC doublets, where the attractive interactions can be varied by changing the solution conditions. A systematic numerical study on RBC doublet formation is performed, which takes into account the shear elasticity of the RBC membrane due to the spectrin cytoskeleton, in addition to the membrane bending rigidity. RBC membranes are modeled by two-dimensional triangular networks of linked vertices, which represent three-dimensional cell shapes. The phase space of RBC doublet shapes in a wide range of adhesion strengths, reduced volumes, and shear elasticities is obtained. The shear elasticity of the RBC membrane changes the doublet phases significantly. Experimental images of RBC doublets in different solutions show similar configurations. Furthermore, we show that rouleau formation is affected by the doublet structure.

中文翻译：

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血影蛋白网络弹性对红细胞双峰形状的影响†

红细胞（RBC）聚集体在确定血液流变学方面起着重要作用。血浆或聚合物溶液中的RBC有吸引力地相互作用以形成各种形状的RBC双峰，其中，可以通过更改溶液条件来改变吸引力。对RBC双峰形成进行了系统的数值研究，除了膜的弯曲刚度外，还考虑到由于血影蛋白细胞骨架而引起的RBC膜的剪切弹性。RBC膜由二维的链接顶点三角网络建模，它们代表三维细胞形状。在广泛的粘合强度，减小的体积和剪切弹性范围内，获得了RBC双峰形的相空间。RBC膜的剪切弹性会显着改变双峰相。在不同的解决方案中，RBC双峰的实验图像显示了相似的配置。此外，我们表明，双峰结构影响了肉串的形成。