Measurements of three-dimensional refractive index tomography and membrane deformability of live erythrocytes from Pelophylax nigromaculatus

Abstract

Unlike mammalian erythrocytes, amphibian erythrocytes have distinct morphological features including large cell sizes and the presence of nuclei. The sizes of the cytoplasm and nuclei of erythrocytes vary significantly over different species, their environments, or pathophysiology, which makes hematological studies important for investigating amphibian species. Here, we present a label-free three-dimensional optical quantification of individual amphibian erythrocytes from frogs Pelophylax nigromaculatus (Rana nigromaculata). Using optical diffraction tomography, we measured three-dimensional refractive index (RI) tomograms of the cells, which clearly distinguished the cytoplasm and nuclei inside the erythrocytes. From the measured RI tomograms, we extracted the relevant biochemical parameters of the cells, including hemoglobin contents and hemoglobin concentrations. Furthermore, we measured dynamic membrane fluctuations and investigated the mechanical properties of the cell membrane. From the statistical and correlative analysis of these retrieved parameters, we investigated interspecific differences between frogs and previously studied mammals.