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ISSN 1672-9145                                                Acta Biochim Biophys Sin 2005, 37(6):  391–395                                                  CN 31-1940/Q

Non-invasive in Situ Simultaneous Measurement of Multi-parameter Mechanical Properties of Red Blood Cell Membrane

Jing LI1,2*, Yao-Xiong HUANG1, Tao JI1, Mei TU1, Xuan MAO1, Wen-Xin CHEN1, and Guang-Wei CHEN1

 

1 Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China;

2 State Key Laboratory for Biocontrol, School of Life Science, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China

 

Abstract        The purpose of this study was to develop a new dynamic image analyzing technique that will give us the ability to measure the viscoelastic parameters of individual living red blood cells non-invasively, in situ and in real time. With this technique, the bending modulus KC, the shear elasticity m and their ratio e were measured under different temperatures, oxygen partial pressures and osmotic pressures. The results not only show the effects of external conditions on mechanical properties of cell membranes including deformability, flexibility, adhesive ability and plasticity, but also demonstrate that the technique can be used to measure cell membrane parameters continuously under several physiological and pathological conditions.

 

Key words        fast image analyzing; red blood cell (RBC); cell membrane elastic property

 

 

 

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Received: November 26, 2004        Accepted: March 28, 2005

This work was supported by a grant from the National Natural Science­ Foundation of China (No. 60377043)

*Corresponding author: Tel, 86-20-84112286; Fax, 86-20-84110108; E-mail, [email protected]