Optofluidic laser speckle image decorrelation analysis for the assessment of red blood cell storage

Hee-Jae Jeon; Muhammad Mohsin Qureshi; Seung Yeob Lee; Euiheon Chung

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0224036

Optofluidic laser speckle image decorrelation analysis for the assessment of red blood cell storage

PLoS One. 2019 Oct 22;14(10):e0224036. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0224036. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Hee-Jae Jeon¹, Muhammad Mohsin Qureshi¹, Seung Yeob Lee², Euiheon Chung¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biomedical Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Gwangju, Korea.
² Department of Laboratory Medicine, Chonnam National University Hospital, Gwangju, Korea.

Abstract

Red blood cells (RBCs) undergo irreversible biochemical and morphological changes during storage, contributing to the hemorheological changes of stored RBCs, which causes deterioration of microvascular perfusion in vivo. In this study, a home-built optofluidic system for laser speckle imaging of flowing stored RBCs through a transparent microfluidic channel was employed. The speckle decorrelation time (SDT) provides a quantitative measure of RBC changes, including aggregation in the microchannel. The SDT and relative light transmission intensity of the stored RBCs were monitored for 42 days. In addition, correlations between the decorrelation time, RBC flow speed through the channel, and relative light transmission intensity were obtained. The SDT of stored RBCs increased as the storage duration increased. The SDTs of the RBCs stored for 21 days did not significantly change. However, for the RBCs stored for over 35 days, the SDT increased significantly from 1.26 ± 0.27 ms to 6.12 ± 1.98 ms. In addition, we measured the relative light transmission intensity and RBC flow speed. As the RBC storage time increased, the relative light transmission intensity increased, whereas the RBC flow speed decreased in the microchannel. The optofluidic laser speckle image decorrelation time provides a quantitative measure of assessing the RBC condition during storage. Laser speckle image decorrelation analysis may serve as a convenient assay to monitor the property changes of stored RBCs.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Blood Preservation / methods*
Blood Preservation / standards
Blood Viscosity / physiology*
Erythrocyte Deformability*
Erythrocytes / cytology*
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / methods*
Lasers*
Microfluidic Analytical Techniques
Optical Fibers
Perfusion
Quality Control*

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the LG Yonam Foundation, the GIST Research Institute (GRI) grant funded by GIST in 2019, and grants from the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Korean government (MEST) (NRF-2016R1A2B4015381), NRF funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Plannng (NRF-2017M3C7A1044964), and by the Bio & Medical Technology Development Program of NRF funded by the Korean government (MSIT) (NRF-2015M3A9E2030125).