Leucocyte filterability: comparing diluted blood with purified cell suspensions

Area of Science:

• Hematology
• Biophysics
• Cell Biology

Background:

• Current rheological filtration studies often require cell purification, which is time-consuming and potentially damaging.
• Filtration of diluted blood allows for the study of cell subpopulations with minimal manipulation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the reliability of measuring combined granulocyte/lymphocyte pore transit time in diluted blood.
• To compare the reproducibility of diluted blood filtration versus purified cell filtration for assessing leukocyte rheology.

Main Methods:

• Filtration of diluted blood to measure pore transit time for granulocytes and lymphocytes.
• Calculation of a combined granulocyte/lymphocyte pore transit time.
• Comparison of results with purified cell populations.

Main Results:

• No significant changes in combined granulocyte/lymphocyte transit time were observed within the normal range of differential counts.
• Filtration of diluted blood proved more reproducible than purified cell filtration, showing less scatter and day-to-day variation.
• A combined transit time is acceptable for assessing leukocyte rheology in diluted blood with normal differential counts.

Conclusions:

• Combined granulocyte/lymphocyte pore transit time in diluted blood is a reproducible method for assessing leukocyte rheology within normal differential count ranges.
• Cell purification may provide additional insights into subpopulations when abnormalities in transit time are detected.
• Combining diluted blood filtration with cell purification offers comprehensive analysis, especially for pathological samples.