Artificial Intelligence in Digital Holographic Imaging

20Quantitative Analysis of Red Blood Cells during Temperature Elevation

20.1 Introduction

There has been considerable scientific interest in studying the shape changes of erythrocytes induced by various conditions. Temperature, in particular, can affect steady‐state volume, ion exchange rate, hemolysis rate, membrane dynamics, and cell deformation [1, 2]. Several studies suggest that red blood cell (RBC) membranes become less stable when they are exposed to temperatures above the normal body temperature. Another study showed that the uni‐lamellar state of the RBC membrane is stable at 37 °C but changes to a multi‐bilayer at a higher temperature [3]. Cell membrane fluctuations (CMFs) of the elastic membrane are based on the assumption that the driving force of fluctuations is purely thermal. Since membrane flickering is thermally dependent, temperature changes can directly affect membrane flickering. Thermal‐induced changes in membrane profile can also affect RBC CMF maps and amplitude. In this chapter, we will introduce a quantitative method to monitor changes in the shape and CMF map of RBCs as a function of temperature at the single‐cell level using label‐free DHM [4]. We believe that thermal‐induced changes can disrupt RBC membrane equilibrium in several ways that can be monitored quantitatively by DHM.

20.2 RBC Sample Preparations

RBCs were imaged at 17, 23, 37, and 41 °C with a sensitivity of ±0.1 °C for our RBC membrane fluctuation study. RBCs were imaged continually ...