MONITORING OF THE DISPERSION OF AGGREGATED RED-BLOOD-CELLS BY FLOW/HYPERLAYER FIELD-FLOW FRACTIONATION

High-speed flow/hyperlayer field-flow fractionation (Fl/HyFFF) was used to characterize glutaraldehyde-fixed rabbit red blood cells (RBCs). A suspension of powdered cell sample in a buffered medium prepared by vortexing was found to be partially aggregated. This was then sonicated to disrupt the aggregates. A gradual breakup of cell aggregates with sonication time was evident from altered Fl/HyFFF elution profiles of the cell sample. It was found that all RBC aggregates were reduced to singlets after a 30-min sonication time. The presence of RBC triplets, doublets and singlets in the original suspension and their sequential elution in Fl/HyFFF was confirmed by electron microscopy. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.