Work

Osmotic gradient ektacytometry: comprehensive characterization of red cell volume and surface maintenance

Year: 1983

Type: article

Abstract: Whole cell deformability of red cells was measured as a continuous function of suspending medium osmolality using the ektacytometer, a laser-diffraction viscometer. Study of normal cells in which water content and membrane surface area had been selectively modified showed that this technique can detect changes in these properties with high sensitivity. The osmotic deformability profiles obtained from this assay provide information about cell water content, surface area, and the heterogeneity in these cellular properties, information that by conventional methods would require several different types of measurements. Application of this approach to a variety of pathologic blood samples showed that various hematologic disorders can be characterized by the shape of this profile and the position of specific features of the profile along the osmolality axis. Measurement of osmotic deformability profiles thus provides a convenient and comprehensive means of identifying abnormalities either in red cell water content or surface area.

Source: Blood

DOI: 10.1182/blood.v61.5.899.899

Authors: MR Clark, N Mohandas, SB Shohet

Institutions: University of California, San Francisco, Cancer Research Institute

Language: English

Topic: Blood properties and coagulation

Subfield: Hematology

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: bronze

Funder: U.S. Public Health Service