The automatic image analysis of red blood cell deformability and blood flow in microchannels with an image-intensified high-speed video camera system

It is crucial in microcirculatory investigation to evaluate red blood cell (RBC) deformability. However, there are almost limited information and indirect method of analyses. The authors tried to measure RBC deformability automatically by a combination of a newly developed algorithm and recording of individual RBC images clearly with an image-intensified high-speed video camera system. The length and the diameter of individual RBCs were measured automatically for RBC velocity measurement. RBC deformability was calculated from the histogram of density at each pixel by the authors' algorithm. To ensure reliability of this system the authors compared actual measurement with automatic analysis for RBC velocity and RBC deformability. Each correlation value (R/sup 2/=0.99) showed the validity of this system. In addition this system can shorten the time needed for measuring. The authors could confirm that the deformability of diabetic RBCs of HbAlc 12.1% was much more decreased compared with that of Hbalc 6.4%. The deformability of diabetic RBCs might depend on hyperglycemic degree of diabetic patients. In addition, the pentoxifylline improved the deformability of diabetic RBCs.