DISPOSABLE CARTRIDGE FOR ERYTHROCYTE MECHANICAL FRAGILITY TEST

摘要

A disposable cartridge for use in red blood cell mechanical fragility profiling, comprising a stressing section with a lysing chamber in which the sample can receive multiple increments of mechanical stress to cause lysis, and a detection section with a transparent region that at least sometimes can have a thickness suitable to take optical readings that can directly or indirectly reflect a fraction/proportion of cells lysed after each increment of the stress, whereby said region can capture at least a representative portion of the sample that received each increment of stress. In some embodiments, the stressing section and the detection section are the same, and/or the transparent region is flexible or otherwise compressible, and/or the stress is ultrasonic. In some embodiments, the sections are separate, and/or the region is rigid or has a fixed thickness, and/or the stress may comprise cell-to-wall interaction and associated fluidic or viscous shear stress induced via concentric/coaxial objects.

主权项

1. A disposable component configured to contain a sample(s) of red blood cells being profiled by a device for testing erythrocyte membrane mechanical fragility, the disposable component comprising:
a port(s) for receiving the sample(s); a stressing section comprising a chamber(s) in which the sample(s) can receive intervals of mechanical stress from the device, to cause lysis in the sample(s) while the sample(s) remains within said chamber(s), such that the device does not contact the sample(s) while the sample(s) receives said stress, thereby preventing contamination of the device; and a detection section comprising an optically transparent region(s) that at least sometimes has a thickness suitable for taking optical readings to reflect what proportion of the cells are lysed after each of said intervals of mechanical stress, with said region(s) having an area sufficient for said readings, whereby said region(s) can capture at least a portion(s) of the sample(s) that received said stress in said chamber(s), said portion(s) being sufficiently representative of said sample(s) such that said readings can reflect said lysis caused by said stress.