Evaluation of the contribution of red and white cells to the flow of suspensions of washed blood cells through 3 micron Nuclepore membranes.

This study was designed to investigate a method of analysis which can quantitate the contribution of white cells to the flow of washed suspensions of blood cells. Such an analysis would obviate the need to remove white cells when studying the filterability of normal and abnormal red cells. The flow of suspensions of washed blood cells through a 3 micron Nuclepore membrane declines continually due to the occlusion of pores and the degree of pore occlusion is reduced significantly by the removal of the 'buffy coat' during the preparation of the suspension. These findings are in complete agreement with many other reports. However, a detailed kinetic analysis of the results suggests strongly that the white cell population makes a small contribution to the degree of pore occlusion which is caused largely by approximately 1% of the total red cell population. Despite the phenomenon and extent of pore occlusion, a kinetic analysis of the complete non-linear flow profile allows a measure of the deformability of red cells from filtration studies of washed but unfractionated blood cells.