Studying red blood cell agglutination by measuring membrane viscosity with optical tweezers

Heloise P. Fernandes; Adriana Fontes; André A. de Thomaz; Luiz C. Barbosa; Maria L. Barjas-Castro; Carlos L. Cesar

doi:10.1117/12.734284

5 September 2007 Studying red blood cell agglutination by measuring membrane viscosity with optical tweezers

Heloise P. Fernandes, Adriana Fontes, André A. de Thomaz, Luiz C. Barbosa, Maria L. Barjas-Castro, Carlos L. Cesar

Proceedings Volume 6644, Optical Trapping and Optical Micromanipulation IV; 66440M (2007) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.734284
Event: NanoScience + Engineering, 2007, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

The red blood cell (RBC) viscoelastic membrane contains proteins and glycoproteins embedded in a fluid lipid bilayer that are responsible for cell agglutination. Manipulating RBCs rouleaux with a double optical tweezers, we observed that the cells slide easily one over the others but are strongly connected by their edges. An explanation for this behavior could be the fact that when the cells slide one over the others, proteins are dragged through the membrane. It confers to the movement a viscous characteristic that is dependent of the velocity between the RBCs and justifies why is so easy to slide them apart. Therefore, in a first step of this work, by measuring the force as a function of the relative velocity between two cells, we confirmed this assumption and used this viscous characteristic of the RBC rouleaux to determine the apparent membrane viscosity of the cell. As this behavior is related to the proteins interactions, we can use the apparent membrane viscosity to obtain a better understanding about cell agglutination. Methods related to cell agglutination induced by antigen-antibody interactions are the basis of most of tests used in transfusion centers. Then, in a second step of this work, we measured the apparent membrane viscosity using antibodies. We observed that this methodology is sensitive to different kinds of bindings between RBCs. Better comprehension of the forces and bindings between RBCs could improve the sensibility and specificity of the hemagglutination reactions and also guides the development of new potentiator substances.

Citation Download Citation

Heloise P. Fernandes, Adriana Fontes, André A. de Thomaz, Luiz C. Barbosa, Maria L. Barjas-Castro, and Carlos L. Cesar "Studying red blood cell agglutination by measuring membrane viscosity with optical tweezers", Proc. SPIE 6644, Optical Trapping and Optical Micromanipulation IV, 66440M (5 September 2007); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.734284

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