Magnetic orientation of red blood cell membranes

Abstract

The magnetic orientation of human red blood cells (RBCs) and ghosts were investigated under strong magnetic fields (up to 8 T) to clarify the contribution of cell membranes and hemoglobin to magnetic orientation. The hemoglobin was removed from RBCs to obtain the one-cell membrane, ghost cells. It was observed that changes in the electrical resistivity of buffer solutions containing suspended RBCs and ghosts were caused by application of magnetic fields. This phenomenon indicates that both ghosts and RBCs are redirected by a magnetic field. It became clear that RBCs without hemoglobin orient in the direction of magnetic fields. An anisotropy of diamagnetic susceptibility of blood cell membrane contributes to the magnetic orientation of RBCs. The diamagnetic anisotropy of a ghost cell was obtained from measuring changes in electrical resistivities of suspension as /spl Delta/X=8.4/spl times/10/sup -28/. >