Direct evaluation of erythrocyte aggregability in human, sheep and cow blood samples with a computerized image...

The non-Newtonian properties of blood are caused by the unique properties of red blood cells to aggregate and to deform. Aggregation mechanism of erythrocytes contributes significantly to blood viscosity. Techniques for the assessment of red cell aggregability have major implications for medical practice. A number of techniques based on various principles have been proposed by many researches. However, as yet, none of these techniques have been applied on a wide basis. The aim of the present paper is to determine red cell aggregability in sheep, cow and human blood samples. The red cells remain in the their natural environment (their own blood plasma). First, we had to transform an IBM-PC computer into an Image Acquisition System, so we designed a frame-grabber and the soft driver necessary to assure the image acquisition taken by the TV camera by means of the microscope. These images are digitized, transformed in a standard format BMP and can be compressed and stored or processed. The entire system software is written in C++ assembly language. To evaluate the aggregability index in the blood sample was determined the total area occupied by all automatically detected erythrocytes (Stot) and the overall area occupied by the aggregated erythrocytes (Saggreg). . EAI = (Saggreg/Stot) x 100%; EAI shows the tendency of red blood cell to form aggregates.