Influence of Hematocrit on Behavior of Ice Crystals and Human Red Blood Cells during Directional Solidification of Cell Suspensions

Abstract

The microscopic structure during directional solidification of human red blood cell suspensions with a hematocrit of 10% was investigated, using three different solutions : physiological saline, physiological saline with 20% v/v glycerol, and physiological saline with 20% v/v glycerol and 20mg/ml antifreeze proteins, and to understand the influence of hematocrit it was compared with the result for the hematocrit of 1% reported previously. The ice crystal structure and the ice-cell interaction were found to be different between the three solutions. This result is basically similar to that for the hematocrit of 1%. While the hematocrit of 1% rarely causes cell-cell interaction in all the solutions, the hematocrit of 10% remarkably causes cell-cell contacts and the resultant cell-cell interaction in physiological saline alone. These results show that the degree of cell-cell interaction depends upon the morphological characteristics of ice crystals, the manners of the ice-cell interaction, and the hematocrit strongly.