Diagnostics possibilities of erythrocytes analysis by the method of laser interference microscopy.

The morphofunctional state of erythrocytes significantly changes by the onset and progression of various diseases, as well as in critical conditions, injuries, accompanied by severe tissue damage. This leads to a violation of microcirculation and has an effect on hemorheology in general. In connection with this, there is a need for the development of adequate methods for assessing the functional activity of erythrocytes. The aim of the work was to study the possibilities of laser interference microscopy in the analysis of the functional state of erythrocytes. The results allowed us to quantify the state of the phase height and phase diameter of erythrocytes. Analysis of the surface nanostructure gave a qualitative assessment of the functional activity of cells. The following patterns were revealed: the action of adrenaline causes the appearance of echinocytes with an increase in phase height and decrease phase diameter and the appearance of spicules on the surface of cells. The action of cortisol leads to a decrease in the phase height and the phase diameter with the appearance of numerous loosening of the structure of the cell surface. Moreover, the traditional method of analyzing the distribution of erythrocytes in a population by morphology (discocytes, stomatocytes, and degeneratively altered cell forms) did not reveal statistically significant differences. Thus, the results indicate that the interference microscopy method allows a qualitative assessment of the morphofunctional activity of native cells. This increases the information content of the analysis and leads to the objectification of data on the functional capabilities of erythrocytes.

Non-invasive study of nerve fibres using laser interference microscopy.

This paper presents the results of a laser interference microscopy study of the morphology and dynamical properties of myelinated nerve fibres. We describe the principles of operation of the phase-modulated laser interference microscope and show how this novel technique allows us to obtain information non-invasively about the internal structure of different regions of a nerve fibre. We also analyse the temporal variations in the internal optical properties in order to detect the rhythmic activity in the nerve fibre at different time scales and to shed light on the underlying biological processes. We observe pronounced frequencies in the dynamics of the optical properties and suggest that the oscillatory modes have similar origin in different regions, but different strengths and mutual modulation properties.