Control and Mechatronics Group, Joint Advanced Research Center, City University of Hong Kong and University of Science and Technology of China, Suzhou 215123, China.
IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2010 Jul;57(7):1816-25. doi: 10.1109/TBME.2010.2042448. Epub 2010 Feb 18.
The physiological functions of human red blood cells (RBCs) play a crucial role to human health and are greatly influenced by their mechanical properties. Any alteration of the cell mechanics may cause human diseases. The osmotic condition is an important factor to the physiological environment, but its effect on RBCs has been little studied. To investigate this effect, robotic manipulation technology with optical tweezers is utilized in this paper to characterize the mechanical properties of RBCs in different osmotic conditions. The effectiveness of this technology is demonstrated first in the manipulation of microbeads. Then the optical tweezers are used to stretch RBCs to acquire the force-deformation relationships. To extract cell properties from the experimental data, a mechanical model is developed for RBCs in hypotonic conditions by extending our previous work , and the finite element model is utilized for RBCs in isotonic and hypertonic conditions. Through comparing the modeling results to the experimental data, the shear moduli of RBCs in different osmotic solutions are characterized, which shows that the cell stiffness increases with elevated osmolality. Furthermore, the property variation and potential biomedical significance of this study are discussed. In conclusion, this study indicates that the osmotic stress has a significant effect on the cell properties of human RBCs, which may provide insight into the pathology analysis and therapy of some human diseases.
人类红细胞（RBC）的生理功能对人类健康至关重要，其机械性能也受到很大影响。细胞力学的任何改变都可能导致人类疾病。渗透条件是生理环境的一个重要因素，但对 RBC 的影响尚未得到充分研究。为了研究这种影响，本文利用机器人操纵技术和光学镊子来表征不同渗透条件下 RBC 的力学特性。首先，该技术在微珠操纵中得到了验证。然后，利用光学镊子拉伸 RBC 以获得力-变形关系。为了从实验数据中提取细胞特性，通过扩展我们之前的工作，为低渗条件下的 RBC 建立了一个力学模型，并且为等渗和高渗条件下的 RBC 利用有限元模型。通过将建模结果与实验数据进行比较，表征了不同渗透溶液中 RBC 的剪切模量，结果表明细胞刚性随渗透压的升高而增加。此外，还讨论了该研究的特性变化和潜在的生物医学意义。总之，本研究表明渗透压对人 RBC 的细胞特性有显著影响，这可能为一些人类疾病的病理分析和治疗提供新的思路。
