Red blood cell (RBC) aggregation is an intrinsic property of the blood that has a direct effect on the blood viscosity and circulation. Nevertheless, the mechanism behind the RBC aggregation has not been confirmed and is still under investigation with two major hypotheses, known as “depletion layer” and “cross-bridging.” We aim to ultimately understand the mechanism of the RBC aggregation and clarify both models. To measure the cell interaction in vitro in different suspensions (including plasma, isotonic solution of fibrinogen, isotonic solution of fibrinogen with albumin, and phosphate buffer saline) while moving the aggregate from one solution to another, an approach combining optical trapping and microfluidics has been applied. The study reveals evidence that RBC aggregation in plasma is at least partly due to the cross-bridging mechanism. The cell interaction strength measured in the final solution was found to be significantly changed depending on the initial solution where the aggregate was formed.
The protein contribution to the red blood cell (RBC) aggregation is studied using the in-house made two-channeled optical tweezers. The cells interaction was characterized using two forces: the force required for separating two cells (FD – disaggregating force) and the force required for holding them from their spontaneous aggregation (FA – aggregating force). The gamma globulin solutions with/without albumin were used to induce the RBC aggregation. The strong interaction (3-10 pN) between the cells was measured within the contact formed using optical tweezers. We found that FD becomes stronger as the gamma globulin concentration increases, while the addition of albumin to the solution led to the significant (few fold) enhancement of the cells interaction forces. However, despite of the strong interaction between the cells their spontaneous overlapping was not observed, unlike the case in plasma, where the cells did increase their overlapping surface, when attached with small interacting surface and released from optical traps. This work in addition to our previous work with model solutions of fibrinogen allows us to conclude that the synergy of blood components is one of the most important features that contribute to the reversible RBC aggregation.
Aggregation of red blood cells (RBCs) is an intrinsic property of blood, which has direct effect on the blood viscosity and therefore affects overall the blood circulation throughout the body. It is attracting interest for the research in both fundamental science and clinical application. Despite of the intensive research, the aggregation mechanism is remaining not fully clear. Recent advances in methods allowed measuring the interaction between single RBCs in a well-defined configuration leading the better understanding of the mechanism of the process. However the most of the studies were made on the static cells. Thus, the measurements in flow mimicking conditions are missing. In this work, we aim to study the interaction of two RBCs in the flow conditions. We demonstrate the characterization of the cells interaction strength (or flow tolerance) by measuring the flow velocity to be applied to separate two aggregated cells trapped by double channel optical tweezers in a desired configuration. The age-separated cells were used for this study. The obtained values for the minimum flow velocities needed to separate the two cells were found to be 78.9 ± 6.1 μm/s and 110 ± 13 μm/s for old and young cells respectively. The data obtained is in agreement with the observations reported by other authors. The significance of our results is in ability for obtaining a comprehensible and absolute physical value characterizing the cells interaction in flow conditions (not like the Aggregation Index measured in whole blood suspensions by other techniques, which is some abstract parameter)
Red blood cells aggregating and disaggregating forces were measured in the autologous plasma and serum using the double-channeled optical tweezers. A significant, three-fold decrease of the both forces was observed in the serum compared to the plasma. The results of this study help to better assess the RBC aggregation mechanism.
Kinetics of optical tweezers (OT)-induced spontaneous aggregation and disaggregation of red blood cells (RBCs) were studied at the level of cell doublets to assess RBC interaction mechanics. Measurements were performed under in vitro conditions in plasma and fibrinogen and fibrinogen + albumin solutions. The RBC spontaneous aggregation kinetics was found to exhibit different behavior depending on the cell environment. In contrast, the RBC disaggregation kinetics was similar in all solutions qualitatively and quantitatively, demonstrating a significant contribution of the studied proteins to the process. The impact of the study on assessing RBC interaction mechanics and the protein contribution to the reversible RBC aggregation process is discussed.
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