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Investigation of Mechanical Properties of Healthy Red Blood Cells using Optical Tweezers

Azadbakht, Ali | 2016

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  1. Type of Document: M.Sc. Thesis
  2. Language: Farsi
  3. Document No: 49110 (04)
  4. University: Sharif University of Technology
  5. Department: Physics
  6. Advisor(s): Seyed Reihani, Nader; Moosavi-Movahhedi, Ali Akbar
  7. Abstract:
  8. Red blood cells (RBC, erythrocytes) are cells with an average diameter of 8 microns, the thickness of 2-3 microns and the volume of 90 fl. The biconcave shape of red blood cells,together with cell membrane flexibility, enables them to pass the capillaries whose diameter is considerably less than 8 micrometers. Mechanical properties of RBC are related to their membrane and cytoskeleton, which consists of spectrin network. Optical tweezers is able to exert very precise forces to erythrocytes using beed as a handle. In this report, we studied mechanical properties of RBC such as elasticity and viscoelasticity using single trap optical tweezers with beads with antibody coated in order to attach to RBC. The elasticity property of RBC which is related to the level of the cell stiffness was also studied and the stiffness coefficient is obtained 4.6 pN=µm for the red blood cell of healthy individuals. Abnormal red blood cells have a different level of stiffness compared to the normal ones. Furthermore, in this case, the viscoelastic properties of the cell has been shown that the cell has power law behavior and it was found the cell does not only follow a linear viscoelastic theory and the given behavior of different deformation speed zones are varies. Above the deformation speed area of 6µm, the cell shows a nonlinear viscoelastic behavior
  9. Keywords:
  10. Optical Tweezer ; Red Blood Cell ; Viscoelasticity ; Elasticity ; Soft Biological Tissue

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