Estudo de propriedades mecânicas e morfológicas de hemácias em indivíduos portadores de anemia falciforme por microscopia de força atômica

Abstract

In this work, we propose the use of atomic force microscopy to investigate the mechanical and morphological properties of erythrocytes from patients with sickle cell anemia, to propose that physical parameters such as curvature, roughness, elasticity and viscosity, can be used in laboratory research of that disease. In each experimental step, the mechanical properties of five cells per individual were measured. In this study we analyzed the blood of five patients at the Center for Hematology and Hemotherapy of Ceará (Hemoce) and, as a control, five healthy volunteer donors. We observed a decrease in surface roughness of the membrane cytoplasmic of the donors with the disease. The analysis of elasticity of the erythrocytes of patients with anemia indicates that the Young’s modulus on average is about three times greater than the modulus found in red cells of healthy donors. Analysis of the hysteresis curves of forces over the erythrocytes shows that the erythrocytes containing the abnormal hemoglobin dissipate less energy and therefore are more viscous than the red blood cells resulting from healthy donors.