Probing confined and unconfined hemoglobin molecules with photoacoustics

摘要

Photoacoustic (PA) measurements on confined and unconfined hemoglobin molecules are presented. In vitro experiments were performed with porcine red blood cells (RBCs) at 532 and 1064 nm at various laser fluences. Fluence was gradually changed from 8 to 21 mJ/cm~2/pulse for 532 nm and 353 to 643 mJ/cm~2/pulse for 1064 nm. PA signals from suspended RBCs (SRBCs) and hemolyzed RBCs (HRBCs) were measured using a needle hydrophone at hematocrits ranging from 10 to 60%. PA amplitude was found to be varied linearly with the laser fluence for each type of samples at the above two optical radiations. At 532 nm, PA signals from SRBCs and HRBCs were measured to be nearly equal, whereas, at 1064 nm, signal amplitude for SRBCs was approximately 2 times higher than that of HRBCs. The results suggest that it may be feasible to detect hemolysis with Pas.