A study of the properties of erythrocytes with polarized light under hypotonic conditions

We consider the application of polarized radiation to the study of the properties of blood and erythrocyte suspensions, including the case of disturbance of the osmotic balance in the erythrocyte-surrounding-medium system. We study experimentally erythrocyte suspensions prepared by diluting whole donor blood with autoplasma, serum, and NaCl aqueous solutions of different concentrations. The Stokes parameters of scattered radiation have been measured with a Stokes polarimeter using a He-Ne laser as a source of linearly or elliptically polarized radiation (λ = 0.63 μm). We show that, upon illumination of erythrocyte suspensions with linearly or circularly polarized radiation, the Stokes parameters of the scattered radiation are highly sensitive to changes in the shape and size of erythrocytes upon hypotonic swelling.