Determination of Deformability of Erythrocytes by Change in Scattering Cross Section

Abstract

A simple method to measure the deformability of erythrocytes was proposed. The scattering cross section depends on the shape and the size of a particle. In addition, the deformation of erythrocytes under shear stress can be established from the change in the scattering cross section. An integrating sphere spectrophotometer and a special flow cell were used to measure the optical properties of blood samples. The blood samples were made to flow into the flow cell at various velocities controlled by a pump. Normal, shrunken and swollen erythrocytes were compared by this method. The characteristic of the change in the scattering cross section under shear stress was different for each sample. Moreover, the shape of the erythrocytes was estimated by a computational method.