Shape oscillations of single blood drops: applications to human blood and sickle cell disease

Vahideh Ansari Hosseinzadeh,R Glynn Holt,Carlo Brugnara

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-34600-7

Vahideh Ansari Hosseinzadeh, R Glynn Holt + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-34600-7

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Abstract

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited blood disorder associated with severe anemia, vessel occlusion, poor oxygen transport and organ failure. The presence of stiff and often sickle-shaped red blood cells is the hallmark of SCD and is believed to contribute to impaired blood rheology and organ damage. Most existing measurement techniques of blood and red blood cell physical properties require sample contact and/or large sample volume, which is problematic for pediatric patients. Acoustic levitation allows rheological measurements in a single drop of blood, simultaneously eliminating the need for both contact containment and manipulation of samples. The technique shows that the shape oscillation of blood drops is able to assess blood viscosity in normal and SCD blood and demonstrates an abnormally increased viscosity in SCD when compared with normal controls. Furthermore, the technique is sensitive enough to detect viscosity changes induced by hydroxyurea treatment, and their dependence on the total fetal hemoglobin content of the sample. Thus this technique may hold promise as a monitoring tool for assessing changes in blood rheology in sickle cell and other hematological diseases.

Highlights

Sickle cell disease is one of the most commonly inherited diseases worldwide with over 250,000 new births each year, and some 70,000–100,000 affected patients in North America[1]
Various techniques have been used to study the rheological properties of Sickle cell disease (SCD) blood and to monitor HU treatment effectiveness on SCD care, such as cone-plate rheometry[22], co-axial cylinder viscometer[24], tube viscometry[18], common-path interferometric microscopy[19], Raman microscopy[25] and microfluidics flow resistance[26]
Our results show that HU treatment reduces whole blood viscosity, and further that this viscosity reduction correlates with HbF production while exhibiting no correlation with mean corpuscular volume (MCV)

Summary

Introduction

Sickle cell disease is one of the most commonly inherited diseases worldwide with over 250,000 new births each year, and some 70,000–100,000 affected patients in North America[1]. Various techniques have been used to study the rheological properties of SCD blood and to monitor HU treatment effectiveness on SCD care, such as cone-plate rheometry[22], co-axial cylinder viscometer[24], tube viscometry[18], common-path interferometric microscopy[19], Raman microscopy[25] and microfluidics flow resistance[26]. All these methods involve direct contact with the sample: the measurements may be affected by the contact. Lopez-Pastor et al levitated drops to monitor reactions in ionic liquids[43]

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