Biomechanics of Ex Vivo-Generated Red Blood Cells Investigated by Optical Tweezers and Digital Holographic Microscopy

Ex vivo-generated red blood cells are a promising resource for future safe blood products, manufactured independently of voluntary blood donations. The physiological process of terminal maturation from spheroid reticulocytes to biconcave erythrocytes has not been accomplished yet. A better biomechanical characterization of cultured red blood cells (cRBCs) will be of utmost interest for manufacturer approval and therapeutic application. Here, we introduce a novel optical tweezer (OT) approach to measure the deformation and elasticity of single cells trapped away from the coverslip. To investigate membrane properties dependent on membrane lipid content, two culture conditions of cRBCs were investigated, cRBC(Plasma) with plasma and cRBC(HPL) supplemented with human platelet lysate. Biomechanical characterization of cells under optical forces proves the similar features of native RBCs and cRBC(HPL), and different characteristics for cRBC(Plasma). To confirm these results, we also applied a second technique, digital holographic microscopy (DHM), for cells laid on the surface. OT and DHM provided related results in terms of cell deformation and membrane fluctuations, allowing a reliable discrimination between cultured and native red blood cells. The two techniques are compared and discussed in terms of application and complementarity.