Blood flow in a stenosed vessel is one of the most important issues, because it is closely related to the outbreak of circulatory diseases. To overcome the technological limitations encountered in the hemodynamic studies using in-vitro stenosis models, we induced a stenosed flow model in the extraembryonic vessels of a chicken embryo. Blood was coagulated by laser irradiation to artificially form a stenosis on the designated spot in the straight blood vessel. Due to photo-thermal coagulation of the red blood cells, the blood is denatured and a stable blood coagulum is induced in the vessel. The blood coagulum firmly and stably adheres on the vessel wall without any size change. It disturbs the on-coming blood flow significantly. To investigate the hemodynamic characteristics of the blood flow in the stenosed vessel, a micro-PIV technique was employed with using red blood cells as tracers to measure the spatial distributions of velocity vectors and streamlines. The present experimental technique with building up an in vivo stenosis model would be very useful in the basic studies on the blood flows related with circulatory vascular diseases.
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