Passive Measurement of Viscoelastic Properties of the Healthy Red Blood Cell by Optical Tweezers

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Motaghian, Melika | 2017

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Type of Document: M.Sc. Thesis
Language: Farsi
Document No: 49746 (04)
University: Sharif University of Technology
Department: Physics
Advisor(s): Seyyed Reihani, Nader
Abstract:
Blood is one of the most important biological organs. Red blood cell (RBC), as the most abundant cell of blood, plays an important role at life of the living bodies. Unique mechanical properties of RBCs enable them to pass through very narrow vessels. Any abnormality in these mechanical properties will disorder the function of the cell and many diseases affect these properties too. Studying the mechanical properties of RBCs is very importantin that it could result in a disease diagnostic method in a single-cell level. In this thesis we have tried to measure the viscoelastic properties of a single RBC by an optical trap through a passive method. This measurement is made through studying the motions of a trapped micron sized bead when it is attached to the RBC of interest compared to when it is free. In this method, the surface fluctuations of the RBC and as a result it’s mechanical properties can be extracted. We have also tried to study viscoelastic properties of the surrounding medium (water in our case) by analyzing the Brownian motions of an optically trapped single-bead in the bulk medium. In the next step we have compared the measured parameters when the bead is attached to the RBC
Keywords:
Viscoelasticity ; Red Blood Cell ; Optical Tweezer ; Fluctuation Theory ; Viscoelastic Properties

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