The main objective of this article is to demonstrate through experimental means the capacity of the quartz crystal resonator (QCR) to characterize biological samples of aqueous dilutions of hyaluronic acid according to their viscosity and how this capacity may be useful in the potential diagnosis of arthritic diseases. The synovial fluid is viscous due to the presence of hyaluronic acid, synthesized by synovial lining cells (type B), and secreted into the synovial fluid thus making the fluid viscous. In consequence, aqueous dilutions of hyaluronic acid may be used as samples to emulate the synovial fluid. Due to the viscoelastic and pseudo-plastic behavior of hyaluronic acid, it is necessary to use the Rouse model in order to obtain viscosity values comparable with viscometer measures. A Fungilab viscometer (rheometer) was used to obtain reference measures of the viscosity in each sample in order to compare them with the QCR prototype measures.
Keywords: QCR; arthritic disease; non-Newtonian fluid; synovial fluid; viscosity.