We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress
Sign In
Advertise with Us
INTEGRA BIOSCIENCES AG

Download Mobile App




Events

09 Apr 2024 - 12 Apr 2024
15 Apr 2024 - 17 Apr 2024
23 Apr 2024 - 26 Apr 2024

New Method Rapidly Monitors Sickle Cell Disease

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 26 Jun 2019
Print article
Image: A peripheral blood film from a patient with sickle cell disease (Photo courtesy of Venngage).
Image: A peripheral blood film from a patient with sickle cell disease (Photo courtesy of Venngage).
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a hereditary disorder that affects red blood cells, distorting their natural disc shape into a crescent moon or "sickle" shape. Normal red blood cells move freely through small vessels throughout the body to deliver oxygen. With sickle cell disease, the misshapen red blood cells become hard and sticky, making it difficult for them to move through blood vessels.

Sickle cell disease affects millions of people of many nationalities throughout the world, including both children and adults. A major challenge in managing the disease is the tremendous pain that patients endure from chronic and acute pain episodes called pain crisis. Unfortunately, these pain episodes are unpredictable and patients never know when or where these episodes will take place.

Bioengineers at the Florida Atlantic University (Boca Raton, FL, USA) and their hematologist colleague have developed a rapid and reliable new method to continuously monitor sickle cell disease using a microfluidics-based electrical impedance sensor. This novel technology can characterize the dynamic cell sickling and unsickling processes in sickle blood without the use of microscopic imaging or biochemical markers. The team collected five blood samples from individuals with SCD. A normal blood sample was obtained from a local blood bank and used as a control in the study. All samples were stored at 4 °C and tested within two weeks of collection.

Normalized impedance of all the five samples during the first hypoxia session were compared, allowing the scientists to identify intersample variations. The difference in sickling behavior was substantial. The team also established the correlations between the in vitro measurements and the patients' hematological parameters, such as the levels of sickle hemoglobin (HbS) and fetal hemoglobin (HbF). These findings show a potential clinical relevance because it serves as a proof-of-concept of electrical impedance as a label-free, biophysical marker of cell sickling events as well as a sensitive tool for probing the dynamic cellular and subcellular processes beyond the optical microscopy. The developed electrical impedance sensor may potentially be used for assessing vaso-occlusion risk, disease severity, and therapeutic treatment in sickle cell disease.

Sarah E. Du, PhD, an assistant professor and senior author of the study said, “The combination of electrical impedance measurement and on-chip hypoxia control provides a promising method for rapid assessment of the dynamic processes of cell sickling and unsickling in patients with sickle cell disease. In addition, electrical impedance measurement is naturally quantitative, real-time, and offers a convenience in direct or indirect contact with the samples of interest, allowing integrations to microfluidics platform and optical microscopy.” The study was published on May 14, 2019, in the journal ACS Sensors.

Related Links:
Florida Atlantic University

Platinum Member
COVID-19 Rapid Test
OSOM COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test
One Step HbA1c Measuring System
GREENCARE A1c
POCT Fluorescent Immunoassay Analyzer
FIA Go
Gold Member
Xylazine Immunoassay Test
Xylazine ELISA

Print article

Channels

Clinical Chemistry

view channel
Image: Reaching speeds up to 6,000 RPM, this centrifuge forms the basis for a new type of inexpensive, POC biomedical test (Photo courtesy of Duke University)

POC Biomedical Test Spins Water Droplet Using Sound Waves for Cancer Detection

Exosomes, tiny cellular bioparticles carrying a specific set of proteins, lipids, and genetic materials, play a crucial role in cell communication and hold promise for non-invasive diagnostics.... Read more

Molecular Diagnostics

view channel
Image: MOF materials efficiently enrich cfDNA and cfRNA in blood through simple operational process (Photo courtesy of Science China Press)

Blood Circulating Nucleic Acid Enrichment Technique Enables Non-Invasive Liver Cancer Diagnosis

The ability to diagnose diseases early can significantly enhance the effectiveness of clinical treatments and improve survival rates. One promising approach for non-invasive early diagnosis is the use... Read more

Pathology

view channel
Image: The OvaCis Rapid Test discriminates benign from malignant epithelial ovarian cysts (Photo courtesy of INEX)

Intra-Operative POC Device Distinguishes Between Benign and Malignant Ovarian Cysts within 15 Minutes

Ovarian cysts represent a significant health issue for women globally, with up to 10% experiencing this condition at some point in their lives. These cysts form when fluid collects within a thin membrane... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2024 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.