Fig. 3: Monitoring particle dynamics during plasma clot formation and fibrinolytic dissolution.
a Confocal reflectance images of plasma clot at different time points during coagulation and fibrinolysis. Scale bar: 20 μm. b Fibrin fibre density (dots) and mesh size (line) measured from the images in (a) as a function of coagulation time, Δt. Line and shaded area represents mean ± s.d. of mesh size distribution across a field-of-view of 1.8 mm × 0.1 mm. c Time-lapsed measurement of timescale-dependent particle MSD and α over the course of polymerization and fibrinolysis (blue: early polymerization, red: after lysis) in plasma clot with fibrin-bound uncoated beads. d Time-lapsed measurement of particle MSD during clotting and lysis of clot from the same plasma sample as in (c), but with free (i.e., do not adhere to fibrin) PEG-coated beads. e, f Confocal reflectance images of two fully polymerized clots (i.e., tPA was not added) from the same plasma sample with uncoated and PEG-coated beads, respectively. Scale bar: 20 μm (large image) and 5 μm (coloured box). g–j Particle dynamics parameters: αI, α0II, αIII, and τT, extracted from the measured timescale-dependent MSD and α as a function of coagulation time Δt with bound uncoated (blue) and free PEG-coated (red) beads. Shaded area indicates time points after lysis where particle dynamics approaches diffusion in viscous fluid and distinct behaviour in Regimes II and III are not applicable. For αI and αIII, line and shaded area represent slope and 95% confidence interval of linear regression, respectively.
