title: Red cell investigations: art and artefacts.
abstract: Red blood cell research is important for both, the clinical haematology, such as transfusion medicine or anaemia investigations, and the basic research fields like exploring general membrane physiology or rheology. Investigations of red blood cells include a wide spectrum of methodologies ranging from population measurements with a billion cells evaluated simultaneously to single-cell approaches. All methods have a potential for pitfalls, and the comparison of data achieved by different technical approaches requires a consistent set of standards. Here, we give an overview of common mistakes using the most popular methodologies in red blood cell research and how to avoid them. Additionally, we propose a number of standards that we believe will allow for data comparison between the different techniques and different labs. We consider biochemical analysis, flux measurements, flow cytometry, patch-clamp measurements and dynamic fluorescence imaging as well as emerging single-cell techniques, such as the use of optical tweezers and atomic force microscopy.
authors: European Red Cell Society, Europe. minetti@unipv.it
authors: Giampaolo
authors: G
authors: Minetti
authors: Stephane
authors: S
authors: Egée
authors: Daniel
authors: D
authors: Mörsdorf
authors: Patrick
authors: P
authors: Steffen
authors: Asya
authors: A
authors: Makhro
authors: Cesare
authors: C
authors: Achilli
authors: Annarita
authors: A
authors: Ciana
authors: Jue
authors: J
authors: Wang
authors: Guillaume
authors: G
authors: Bouyer
authors: Ingolf
authors: I
authors: Bernhardt
authors: Christian
authors: C
authors: Wagner
authors: Serge
authors: S
authors: Thomas
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: Bogdanova
authors: Lars
authors: L
authors: Kaestner
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force