Fragility of red blood cells, which provides clues to a variety of problems associated with human blood use, can now be measured quickly and easily with a device developed by a team of Israeli scientists. Dr. David Danon and colleagues at the Weizmann Institute of Science at Rehovot, developed the device, called a Fragiligraph. Red blood cell fragility can be tested in the device in minutes with use of only a single drop of blood.
Dr. Danon told a press conference here yesterday that the present model of the Fragiligraph has been in use for about a year. He said tests of fragility can be used to gauge the age and normalcy of the cells and to predict how long transfused cells will stay in circulation in the receiver. Other uses, the Israeli scientist said, are in studies of the process of aging, the deterioration of blood bank samples of stored blood, and in providing clues to deterioration of the heart.
Older methods of determining fragility have been slow and cumbersome and hence limited in usefulness, according to Dr. Danon, who is head of the biological ultrastructure of the Weizmann Institute. The press conference was sponsored by the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute.
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