Effect of Magnetic Field on Blood Viscosity and the development of Atherosclerotic Plaque in Mice

Risk of cardiac diseases increase greatly with high viscosity of blood. Also, atherosclerotic plaque develops in vasculature due to turbulence in blood flow. Medicines, like Aspirin, may reduce blood viscosity, however, only to worsen the turbulence because the Reynolds number goes up as the viscosity lowers. Here, we will report our Magneto-Rheology research that addresses both turbulence suppression and viscosity reduction simultaneously. When a strong magnetic field is applied along the blood flow direction, red blood cells are polarized, and aggregated into short chains, which lowers the viscosity along the flow direction. Concurrently, viscosity is increased in the directions perpendicular to the flow. We studied the effect of magnet on mice to test our hypothesis. A small magnet was surgically implanted adjacent to the jugular vein in mice. Afterwards we measure the viscosity of blood collected from sacrificed mice. Also, plaque formation in the aortic arch was analyzed. Preliminary results suggest that viscosity is reduced with lesser plaque, i.e., suppressed turbulence. We expect to design and develop a device for human, which will control plaque, and thus will prevent Heart Attack and Strokes.