Figure 6. Hydrogel particle behavior under shear forces.

(A) Strain response of bulk hydrogels A–D at controlled, applied shear stress. Arrows represent corresponding wall shear rates. (B) Deformability parameter (Δ) determined by FEA for particles A–D under a range of shear forces. Inset shows applied shear force directions and representative particle deformation of particle D under the largest shear (circled) with an amplification factor of 2 to visualize deformation. (C) Localization of fluorescent hydrogel particles from human whole blood flow to the chamber wall. N = 3 human blood donors per particle condition. Statistical analysis was performed using two-way ANOVA with Fisher’s LSD test between groups, resulting in non-significant differences at all shear rates. Error bars represent the standard error. (D) Representative rate of attachment and detachment to inflamed HUVECs at wall shear rates of 1000 s⁻¹. The first 300 seconds represent perfusion of whole human blood and hydrogel particles, while the remaining time represents perfusion of buffer without particles.