Rohit Shishodia
Scientists from the Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bengaluru, have developed a device that detects the effect of prolonged alcohol exposure on Red Blood Cells (RBC) through high-resolution measurements of their size.

The high-resolution device that shows the reduction in size of RBCs on alcohol exposure can be tuned for a point-of-care screening of multiple conditions that alter the size and count of RBCs in blood.

This device relies on the resistive pulse sensing principle. The scientists first developed techniques for making tiny micron (1/1000th of a millimetre) sized holes or micro-pores at the tip of a glass capillary with careful fabrication, flame polishing, and image verification.

India’s Ministry of Science has said that cells passing through the pore created very tiny electrical pulses, which give direct and most sensitive information of cell count and volume.

The ministry further pointed out that although it is known that alcohol affects RBCs, the exact physiological changes are very subtle and difficult to measure.

“In order to overcome this challenge, scientists from RRI, an autonomous institution funded by the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, led by Professor Gautam Soni, have developed custom-made electro-fluidic platform that can detect the change by measuring the cell size in enhanced resolution,” said the ministry.

This research work, carried out by researchers Saurabh Kaushik, Manohara M., and K.D Murugan, under the guidance of Dr. Gautam Soni and Dr. V. Sundaramurthy from National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore, has been published in ACS Sensors journal of the American Chemical Society.

Dr. Gutam Soni said, “Our lab had been working on building nanofluidic single-molecule detectors for the last few years. We found that some of the ideas used in the nanofluidic field may also be used in microfluidics in general and cell-biology in particular. We were pleasantly surprised with the reproducibility and resolution of our devices.”

“Cell volume changes are an important biomarker for multiple diseases, especially blood-related conditions. Accurate measurement of volume changes of RBCs has applications in detection as well as mechanistic studies of diseases such as sickle cell anemia and malaria,” said Dr Soni.

“Similarly, small volume changes of RBCs could also be indicators of malnutrition states in a cell. With this work, the RRI team envisages that the high-resolution platform can be tuned for a point-of-care screening of several other blood-related conditions,” he explained.