This book provides an introduction to those problems encountered in physiology and medicine where fluid flow at very small scales plays an important role. These range form nanometer-scale problems, for which the continuum approximation of the fluid is just barely acceptable, to more conventional micrometer-scale problems, where the Stokes flow or lubrication-theory approximations are appropriate.
Some of the topics covered include filtration in the endothelial wall and in the kidney glomerulus; the uptake of macromolecules in the arterial wall; the rheology of cartilage and other soft hydrated tissues; transport phenomena in the cell; and the microhydrodynamics of blood circulation. An introductory chapter is dedicated to the ultrastructural and functional basis of nanoscale transport, and another chapter reviews different computational methods suitable for nano- and micro-scale fluid flow problem. An ample bibliography of over 2,000 titles covers the relevant literature, from pioneering papers of the early years of the century to recent books and articles.