De Luca Anna Chiara, Rusciano Giulia, Ciancia Rosanna, Martinelli Vincenzo, Pesce Giuseppe, Rotoli Bruno, Selvaggi Lara, Sasso Antonio
Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, Università di Napoli Federico II, Complesso Universitario Monte S. Angelo, Via Cinthia, 80126 Napoli, Italy.
Opt Express. 2008 May 26;16(11):7943-57. doi: 10.1364/oe.16.007943.
In this work, the effects of thalassemia, a blood disease quite diffuse in the Mediterranean sea region, have been investigated at single cell level using a Raman Tweezers system. By resonant excitation of hemoglobin Raman bands, we have examined the oxygenation capability of beta-thalassemic erythrocytes. A reduction of this fundamental erythrocyte function has been found. The measurements have been performed on a significant number of red blood cells; the relative statistical analysis is presented. Moreover, the response to photo-induced oxidative stress of diseased cells with respect to the normal ones has been analyzed. Finally, the deformability of thalassemic erythrocytes has been quantified by measuring the membrane shear modulus by using a double-trap system: the measurements have revealed an increase in membrane rigidity of more than 40%, giving evidence that the genetic defect associated to thalassemia, which manly relies on hemoglobin structure, also strongly affects the erythrocyte mechanical properties. Our results demonstrate that the developed set-up may have potential for the monitoring of blood diseases and their response to drug therapies.
在这项工作中，我们使用拉曼镊子系统在单细胞水平上研究了地中海地区颇为常见的血液疾病——地中海贫血的影响。通过对血红蛋白拉曼谱带的共振激发，我们检测了β地中海贫血红细胞的氧合能力。结果发现这种基本的红细胞功能有所下降。我们对大量红细胞进行了测量，并给出了相关统计分析。此外，还分析了患病细胞相对于正常细胞对光诱导氧化应激的反应。最后，通过使用双阱系统测量膜剪切模量，对地中海贫血红细胞的变形性进行了量化：测量结果显示膜刚性增加了40%以上，这表明与地中海贫血相关的遗传缺陷（主要依赖于血红蛋白结构）也强烈影响红细胞的力学性能。我们的结果表明，所开发的装置在监测血液疾病及其对药物治疗的反应方面可能具有潜力。
