Using math and light to detect misshapen red blood cells

ScienceDaily (Oct. 31, 2011) — Misshapen red blood cells (RBCs) are a sign of serious illnesses, such as malaria and sickle cell anemia. Until recently, the only way to assess whether a person's RBCs were the correct shape was to look at them individually under a microscope -- a time-consuming process for pathologists. Now researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) have pioneered a technique that will allow doctors to ascertain the healthy shape of red blood cells in just a few seconds, by analyzing the light scattered off hundreds of cells at a time.

The team reports its results in the October issue of the Optical Society's (OSA) open-access journal Biomedical Optics Express.

A healthy RBC looks like a disc with a depression -- called a dimple -- in the top and bottom. Stressed RBCs often have deeper dimples than healthy ones, giving the cells a deflated look; others may have shallow dimples or no dimples at all. The UIUC researchers reasoned that if they shone light on a sample of blood and analyzed the light scattering off that sample, they would get a pattern -- a sort of signature produced by the way light interacts with itself in a three-dimensional space -- that would be different from the pattern collected from blood containing mostly misshapen cells. But these light-cell interactions were too complicated to analyze with the usual mathematical tools. So researchers made use of the Born approximation, a mathematical rule that can be used when the object of interest is small and transparent.

By running Fourier Transform Light Scattering (FTLS) -- a method developed by the same group three years ago -- on individual RBCs, the scientists found that the pattern changed significantly with the diameter and dimple width of the cells. Using this information, the UIUC team applied the Born approximation to their findings and calculated what the appropriate scattering signature for healthy cells should be. They then used this new "healthy cell signature" to identify the correct morphology of cells in a blood smear. The new technique may allow for faster, accurate blood tests that could help doctors diagnose various types of anemia, and could be especially useful in resource-poor areas of the world, the researchers say.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Optical Society of America.

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Journal Reference:

Bartolomeo Della Ventura, Luigi Schiavo, Carlo Altucci, Rosario Esposito, Raffaele Velotta. Light assisted antibody immobilization for bio-sensing. Biomedical Optics Express, 2011; 2 (11): 3223 DOI: 10.1364/BOE.2.003223

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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Using magnets to help prevent heart attacks: Magnetic field can reduce blood viscosity, physicist discovers

ScienceDaily (June 8, 2011) — If a person's blood becomes too thick it can damage blood vessels and increase the risk of heart attacks. But a Temple University physicist has discovered that he can thin the human blood by subjecting it to a magnetic field.

Rongjia Tao, professor and chair of physics at Temple University, has pioneered the use of electric or magnetic fields to decrease the viscosity of oil in engines and pipelines. Now, he is using the same magnetic fields to thin human blood in the circulation system.

Because red blood cells contain iron, Tao has been able to reduce a person's blood viscosity by 20-30 percent by subjecting it to a magnetic field of 1.3 Telsa (about the same as an MRI) for about one minute.

Tao and his collaborator tested numerous blood samples in a Temple lab and found that the magnetic field polarizes the red blood cells causing them to link together in short chains, streamlining the movement of the blood. Because these chains are larger than the single blood cells, they flow down the center, reducing the friction against the walls of the blood vessels. The combined effects reduce the viscosity of the blood, helping it to flow more freely.

When the magnetic field was taken away, the blood's original viscosity state slowly returned, but over a period of several hours.

"By selecting a suitable magnetic field strength and pulse duration, we will be able to control the size of the aggregated red-cell chains, hence to control the blood's viscosity," said Tao. "This method of magneto-rheology provides an effective way to control the blood viscosity within a selected range."

Currently, the only method for thinning blood is through drugs such as aspirin; however, these drugs often produce unwanted side effects. Tao said that the magnetic field method is not only safer, it is repeatable. The magnetic fields may be reapplied and the viscosity reduced again. He also added that the viscosity reduction does not affect the red blood cells' normal function.

Tao said that further studies are needed and that he hopes to ultimately develop this technology into an acceptable therapy to prevent heart disease.

Tao and his former graduate student, Ke "Colin" Huang, now a medical physics resident in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Michigan, are publishing their findings in the journal Physical Review E.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Temple University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

View the original article here

Using magnets to help prevent heart attacks: Magnetic field can reduce blood viscosity, physicist discovers

ScienceDaily (June 8, 2011) — If a person's blood becomes too thick it can damage blood vessels and increase the risk of heart attacks. But a Temple University physicist has discovered that he can thin the human blood by subjecting it to a magnetic field.

Rongjia Tao, professor and chair of physics at Temple University, has pioneered the use of electric or magnetic fields to decrease the viscosity of oil in engines and pipelines. Now, he is using the same magnetic fields to thin human blood in the circulation system.

Because red blood cells contain iron, Tao has been able to reduce a person's blood viscosity by 20-30 percent by subjecting it to a magnetic field of 1.3 Telsa (about the same as an MRI) for about one minute.

Tao and his collaborator tested numerous blood samples in a Temple lab and found that the magnetic field polarizes the red blood cells causing them to link together in short chains, streamlining the movement of the blood. Because these chains are larger than the single blood cells, they flow down the center, reducing the friction against the walls of the blood vessels. The combined effects reduce the viscosity of the blood, helping it to flow more freely.

When the magnetic field was taken away, the blood's original viscosity state slowly returned, but over a period of several hours.

"By selecting a suitable magnetic field strength and pulse duration, we will be able to control the size of the aggregated red-cell chains, hence to control the blood's viscosity," said Tao. "This method of magneto-rheology provides an effective way to control the blood viscosity within a selected range."

Currently, the only method for thinning blood is through drugs such as aspirin; however, these drugs often produce unwanted side effects. Tao said that the magnetic field method is not only safer, it is repeatable. The magnetic fields may be reapplied and the viscosity reduced again. He also added that the viscosity reduction does not affect the red blood cells' normal function.

Tao said that further studies are needed and that he hopes to ultimately develop this technology into an acceptable therapy to prevent heart disease.

Tao and his former graduate student, Ke "Colin" Huang, now a medical physics resident in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Michigan, are publishing their findings in the journal Physical Review E.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Temple University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

View the original article here