TITLE:
Red Blood Cell Mechanical Stability
AUTHORS:
Oguz K. Baskurt
KEYWORDS:
Artificial Organs; Blood Damage; Subhemolytic Damage; Ektacytometry
JOURNAL NAME:
Engineering,
Vol.4 No.10B,
January
16,
2013
ABSTRACT: It has been well documented
that shear forces effective above a certain magnitude under flow conditions
causes damage in blood cells. This damage ranges from slight morphological
alteration to the destruction of red blood cells (RBC). The hemolytic trauma to
RBC can easily be detected by measuring free hemoglobin level in plasma,
however there are no standardized protocols to quantitate subhemolytic trauma.
Ektacytometry has been used to study the alterations in RBC mechanical
properties induced by the application of shear stress at various levels.
Additionally, a protocol for measuring the hemolytic threshold as an indicator
of subhemolytic damage to RBC has been developed based on ektacytometry. These
standardized protocols may find applications in the pre-clinical and clinical
evaluation of artificial organs and biomedical devices contacting with blood.