Effective viscosity of microswimmer suspensions

The measurement of a quantitative and macroscopic parameter to estimate the global motility of a large population of swimming biological cells is a challenge. Experiments on the rheology of active suspensions have been performed. Effective viscosity of sheared suspensions of live unicellular motile...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2010-03, Vol.104 (9), p.098102-098102, Article 098102
Main Authors: Rafaï, Salima, Jibuti, Levan, Peyla, Philippe
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algorithms
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii - physiology
Condensed Matter
Models, Biological
Motion
Movement
Physics
Rheology
Soft Condensed Matter
Suspensions
Time Factors
Viscosity
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Summary:The measurement of a quantitative and macroscopic parameter to estimate the global motility of a large population of swimming biological cells is a challenge. Experiments on the rheology of active suspensions have been performed. Effective viscosity of sheared suspensions of live unicellular motile microalgae (Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii) is far greater than for suspensions containing the same volume fraction of dead cells. In addition, suspensions show shear thinning behavior. We relate these macroscopic measurements to the orientation of individual swimming cells under flow and discuss our results in the light of several existing models.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/physrevlett.104.098102