ИСТИНА

Principles and applications of diffuse light scattering, diffractometry and laser trapping/ manipulation techniques are discussed in relation to their applicability to measure in vitro the microrheologic properties, deformability and aggregation, of red blood cells (RBC) and the interaction forces of the latter both in large populations (whole blood samples and diluted suspensions) and on the individual cells level. We show that being able to measure forces in the pN range allows for assessing the mechanisms of RBC interactions, which make the basis of their intrinsic property of reversible aggregation. Given the measurement results the diagnostic potential of the techniques is discussed.