Red blood cell structure and dynamics explored with digital holographic microscopy

Abstract

Digital holographic microscopy (DHM) is a technique that allows obtaining,from a single recorded hologram, quantitative phase image of livingcell with interferometric accuracy. Specifically the optical phaseshift induced by the specimen on the transmitted wave front can beregarded as a powerful endogenous contrast agent, depending on boththe thickness and the refractive index of the sample. Thanks to adecoupling procedure cell thickness and intracellular refractiveindex can be measured separately. Consequently, Mean corpuscularvolume (MCV) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC),two highly relevant clinical parameters, have been measured non-invasivelyat a single cell level. The DHM nanometric axial and microsecondtemporal sensitivities have permitted to measure the red blood cellmembrane fluctuations (CMF) on the whole cell surface.