Preparation and scanning artifacts

Artifacts of Preparation.

Fig. 1 Deformation of erythrocytes generated by defects of preparation:
a) change of pH during fixation and washing; b) effect of hypertonic buffer.

Careless handling of a suspension can cause deformation. Changes of pH (in this case, acidity of a solution) lead to distortion of membrane integrity followed by spherocytosis and induction of fusing process. Increase in ionic strength causes dehydration of RBC and, as a consequence, deformation.

Scanning Artifacts

Fig. 2 (a, b)

a - Scanning artifacts associated with  probe excitation at erythrocyte edges when differences in height are very sharp.
They are indistinguishable in HIGH mode, but are visible in the error mode and phase mode.
b - Scanning artifacts associated with distortion of erythrocyte membrane and appearance of  sites to which the probe clings. Truly, this effect cannot be related to artifacts (phenomena bearing no relation to the object of research). Membrane distortions during scanning are associated with membrane structure and can be used to detect changes occurring in the membrane.