Affiliations: Dr. Joseph Kaufmann Hematology Laboratory, Physiology Department, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben‐Gurion University of the Negev, Beer‐Sheva, Israel | Chemistry Department, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Ben‐Gurion University of the Negev, Beer‐Sheva, Israel | Biological Chemistry Department, College of Judea and Samaria, Ariel, Israel
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Dr. Alexander Pribush, Physiology Department, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben‐Gurion University of the Negev, Beer‐Sheva, 84105, Israel. Tel.: +972 8 6477324; Fax: +972 8 6477628; E‐mail: alexp@bgumail.bgu.ac.il.
Abstract: The conductance and capacitance of flowing and quiescent red blood cell (RBC) suspensions were measured at a frequency of 0.2 MHz. The results demonstrate that the time‐dependent changes in the conductance recorded during the aggregation process differ in nature for suspensions of short linear rouleaux, branched aggregates and RBC networks. It is shown that the conductance of RBC suspensions measured during the aggregation and disaggregation processes follows the morphological transformations of the RBC aggregates. Thus, this method enables characterization of the morphology of RBC aggregates formed in whole blood and in suspensions with physiological hematocrits both under flow conditions and in stasis. These results in combination with previous ones suggest that this technique can be used for studies of dynamic RBC aggregation and probably for diagnostic use.
Keywords: Red blood cell, aggregation, morphology, conductance
Journal: Biorheology, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 13-28, 2004
