Abstract
The deformability of erythrocytes is a critical determinant of blood
flow in microcirculation. By capturing red blood cells (RBC) with
optical tweezers and dragging them through a viscous fluid we were able
to measure their overall elasticity. We measured, and compared, the RBC
deformability of 15 homozygous patients (HbSS) including five patients
taking hydroxyurea (HU) for at least 6 months (HbSS/HU), 10 subjects
with sickle cell trait (HbAS) and 35 normal controls. Our results showed
that the RBC deformability was significantly lower in haemoglobin S
(HbS) subjects (HbSS and HbAS), except for HbSS/HU cells, whose
deformability was similar to the normal controls. Our data showed that
the laser optical tweezers technique is able to detect differences in
HbS RBC from subjects taking HU, and to differentiate RBC from normal
controls and HbAS, indicating that this is a very sensitive method and
can be applied for detection of drug-response in sickle cell disease.
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