Ok. Baskurt et al., Measurement of red blood cell aggregation in a "plate-plate" shearing system by analysis of light transmission, CL HEMORH M, 19(4), 1998, pp. 307-314
The analysis of light reflection from or transmission through a blood sampl
e under defined shearing conditions is widely used to assess red blood cell
(RBC) aggregation. Different shearing geometries have been used to generat
e a constant shear rate within the blood sample, including "cone on plate"
and Couette systems. In this study, a rotating glass plate, together with a
parallel stationary plate, was used to generate a given shear rate at the
point of light transmission measurement. The system gave reproducible resul
ts and proved to be sensitive to alterations in RBC aggregation. A comparis
on between different RBC aggregation parameters that can be calculated usin
g the same light transmission curves (syllectograms) was also made. The ind
ex calculated by integrating the area under the syllectogram (M index) was
found to be the most appropriate aggregation parameter to be used for compa
risons between two groups of blood samples with different aggregation chara
cteristics.