Behavior of blood in a low-gravity environment

Abstract

A near-zero gravity environment offers the elimination of some of the problems of handling heterogeneous systems such as blood in which the components are of disparate density and sedimentation of cells and buoyant convection occurs. Some of the physicochemical characteristics of blood are described, the basic variables measured in hemorheological studies discussed and the main effects of gravity or its absence on colloidal dispersions reviewed in relation to the effects which might be expected on the properties of blood and its constituents.