Some Effects of Electrical Fields on Red Blood Cells with Remarks on Electronic Red Cell Sizing

Abstract

Sizing normal RBC by an electronic method showed that with certain aperture currents a skewed bimodal size‐distribution curve is obtainable. In these studies some possible causes for such distributions were investigated. The experiments show that an electrical field can cause change in shape, size, and staining properties of RBC as well as lysis. Extrapolation of the results of these experiments to the conditions of the RBC sizing method indicate that these changes are not responsible for the skewed bimodal distribution. We believe, therefore, that normal RBC vary among themselves in some structural or physiologic way, not necessarily size, that was measured by this system. The use of aperture currents within the range that displays the bimodal distribution is helpful in diagnostic practice, because the bimodal size distribution enhances the discrimination of the system for detection of simultaneously existing different red cell populations.