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MR Clark, N Mohandas, SH Embury and BH Lubin
Irreversibly sickled cells (ISC) are considered to be a hallmark of sickle
cell disease, yet their number in peripheral blood smears varies greatly
among different homozygous SS patients. This variation has suggested a role
for ISC in the varying clinical manifestations of the disease. Efforts to
determine the role of ISC have been complicated by the difficulty in
standardizing the quantification of these cells. For this reason, we have
attempted to develop an alternative method of quantification that would be
less variable than the microscopic counting of cells on blood smears.
Because ISC are dehydrated dense cells, a measurement based on cell density
seemed an attractive alternative approach. Analysis of whole blood samples
on a simple, 2- step density gradient, spun in a microhematocrit
centrifuge, showed a strong correlation between the proportion of high
density cells and the percentage of morphologically identified ISC.
Parallel ektacytometric measurements of cell deformability, another
parameter that reflects the low water content and high MCHC of ISC, were
also strongly correlated with ISC counts. These findings suggest that
either of these measurements, sensitive to the special physical properties
of ISC, could be used as an objective substitute for the microscopic
counting of ISC.
This article has been cited by other articles:
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| Copyright © 1982 by American Society of Hematology Online ISSN: 1528-0020 | |||||||||
