Electro-optical system for cancellation of the effects of red blood cells in a sample of biological cells

摘要

Method and apparatus for differentially analyzing biological cells, especially white blood cells, in a sample that includes red blood cells, without destroying or removing the red blood cells from the sample, such as a blood smear. Apparatus for illuminating the cell sample with light including that of approximately 415 nanometers in wavelength. White blood cells are almost transparent at this color; however, whenever the light of 415 nanometers wavelength passes through a portion of the illuminated sample that includes a red cell, a sufficient quantity of light energy is absorbed by the red cell to cause the resulting detection of light energy to be a tag signal below a chosen threshold value. Tag signals thus representative of the red blood cells can be stored in a memory such that the location of the red blood cells can be utilized for subsequent analysis of the sample when the sample is exposed to light of different wavelengths. In one such analysis, normal mature red blood cells can be distinguished from reticulocytes. Also, the signals representative of the red blood cells can be removed from an electrical representation of the entire sample.