Influence of Pulsed He-Ne Laser Irradiation on the Red Blood Cell Interaction Studied by Optical Tweezers.

Ruixue Zhu,Tatiana Avsievich,Alexey Popov,Igor Meglinski,Alexander Bykov

doi:10.3390/mi10120853

Abstract

Optical Tweezers (OT), as a revolutionary innovation in laser physics, has been extremely useful in studying cell interaction dynamics at a single-cell level. The reversible aggregation process of red blood cells (RBCs) has an important influence on blood rheological properties, but the underlying mechanism has not been fully understood. The regulating effects of low-level laser irradiation on blood rheological properties have been reported. However, the influence of pulsed laser irradiation, and the origin of laser irradiation effects on the interaction between RBCs remain unclear. In this study, RBC interaction was assessed in detail with OT. The effects of both continuous and pulsed low-level He–Ne laser irradiation on RBC aggregation was investigated within a short irradiation period (up to 300 s). The results indicate stronger intercellular interaction between RBCs in the enforced disaggregation process, and both the cell contact time and the initial contact area between two RBCs showed an impact on the measured disaggregation force. Meanwhile, the RBC aggregation force that was independent to measurement conditions decreased after a short time of pulsed He–Ne laser irradiation. These results provide new insights into the understanding of the RBC interaction mechanism and laser irradiation effects on blood properties.

Highlights

Human red blood cells (RBCs), or erythrocytes, can form face-to-face two-dimensional rouleaux, which can branch into three-dimensional structures by side-to-side or side-to-end contact of cells in aqueous suspension of large proteins or polymers
The results showed that low-level He–Ne laser with appropriate pulse frequency has the potentiality to reduce the RBC aggregation force in a short irradiation time (120 s)
A linear and a reciprocal dependence of the interaction energy density on the relative interaction area between two RBCs in autologous plasma were obtained in aggregation and disaggregation process, respectively

Summary

Introduction

Human red blood cells (RBCs), or erythrocytes, can form face-to-face two-dimensional rouleaux, which can branch into three-dimensional structures by side-to-side or side-to-end contact of cells in aqueous suspension of large proteins or polymers. The spontaneous process of RBCs clumping is known as aggregation, whereas the enforced rouleaux dispersion by high-shear conditions is referred to as disaggregation. RBC (dis)aggregation highly depends on suspension properties including the concentration of fibrous biomolecules, the molecular weight of neutral polymers, and the antagonistic or synergetic effects between different proteins [1,2]. The better understanding of RBC interaction mechanism and investigation of potential methods to regulate this process are important for the future blood microcirculation monitoring and therapy

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion