. Significance: Imaging biofluid flow under physiologic conditions aids in understanding disease processes and health complications. We present a method employing a microparallel plate strain induction chamber (MPPSIC) amenable to optical coherence tomography to track depth-resolved lateral displacement in fluids in real time while under constant and sinusoidal shear. Aim: Our objective is to track biofluid motion under shearing conditions found in the respiratory epithelium, first validating methods in Newtonian fluids and subsequently assessing the capability of motion-tracking in bronchial mucus. Approach: The motion of polystyrene microspheres in aqueous glycerol is tracked under constant and sinusoidal applied shear rates in the MPPSIC and is compared with theory. Then 1.5 wt. % bronchial mucus samples considered to be in a normal hydrated state are studied under sinusoidal shear rates of amplitudes 0.7 to . Results: Newtonian fluids under low Reynolds conditions ( ) exhibit velocity decreases directly proportional to the distance from the plate driven at both constant and oscillating velocities, consistent with Navier–Stokes’s first and second problems at finite depths. A 1.5 wt. % mucus sample also exhibits a uniform shear strain profile. Conclusions: The MPPSIC provides a new capability for studying biofluids, such as mucus, to assess potentially non-linear or strain-rate-dependent properties in a regime that is relevant to the mucus layer in the lung epithelium.

We present a micro-parallel plate rheometer amenable to OCT to track depth-resolved lateral displacement in fluids in real-time while under dynamic shear. Newtonian fluid experiments show direct proportionality between lateral velocity of particles and depth.