Determination of erythrocyte transit times through micropores. II. Influence of experimental and physicochemical factors.

A new red blood cell filtration system, termed the Cell Transit Time Analyzer (CTTA), has been developed in order to measure the individual transit times of a large number of cells through cylindrical micropores in special "oligopore" filters; the system operates on the electrical conductometric principle and employs special computer software to provide several measures of the resulting transit time histogram. Using this system with filters having pore diameters of 4.5 or 5.0 microns and length to diameter ratios of 3.0 to 4.7, we have evaluated the effects of several experimental factors on the flow behavior of normal and modified human RBC. Our results indicate: 1) linear RBC pressure-flow behavior over a driving pressure range of 2 to 10.5 cm H2O with zero velocity intercepts at delta P = 0, thus suggesting the Poiseuille-like nature of the flow; 2) resistance to flow or "apparent viscosities" for normal RBC which are between 3.1 to 3.9 cPoise and are independent of driving pressure and pore geometry; 3) increased flow resistance (i.e., increased transit times) for old versus young RBC and for RBC made less deformable by DNP-induced crenation or by heat treatment at 48 degrees C; 4) increased mean transit time and poorer reproducibility when using EDTA rather than heparin as the anticoagulant agent. Further, using mixtures of heat-treated and normal RBC and various percentile values of the transit time histogram, we have been able to demonstrate the presence of sub-populations of rigid cells and thus the value of measurements which allow statistical analyses of RBC populations.