Blood Cell Counter Principle

The technology was principally developed to count blood cells quickly by measuring the changes in electrical conductance as cells suspended in a conductive fluid passed through a small orifice.

Blood cell counter principle.

A white blood cell wbc count is a test that measures the number of white blood cells in your body. Named after its discoverer wallace coulter the coulter principle states that particles passing through an orifice along with an electrical current will produce an increase in impedance due to the displacement of electrolytes caused by the presence of the particle. Whole blood is passed between two electrodes through an aperture so narrow that only one cell can pass through at a time. It is used in almost every hematology analyzer.

Principle of light scatter cell counting a laser beam or tungsten halogen light beam is guided at a current of blood cells that travel through a narrow channel in the light scatter cell counters. The cbc generates accurate cell counts using the coulter principle. The impedance changes as a cell passes through. A complete blood count test measures several components and features of your blood including.

Red blood cells which carry oxygen white blood cells which fight infection. The coulter principle and the coulter counter that is based on it is the commercial term for the technique known as resistive pulse sensing or electrical zone sensing. The principle involves using electrical impedance measurements to count blood cells and measure their sizes a technology that remains in use in many automated analyzers. A complete blood count cbc is a blood test used to evaluate your overall health and detect a wide range of disorders including anemia infection and leukemia.

When a cell is struck by the beam of light the beam is spread at an angle. A landmark in the automation of blood cell counts was the coulter principle which was patented by wallace h. The front sheath fluid is used for hydrodynamic focussing of the sample flow which contains the blood cells. The channel is incredibly small causing the cells to move in one file.

The term white blood cell count. A red blood cell count is a blood test that your doctor uses to find out how many red blood cells rbcs you have. Typically the diameter and length of the orifice amounts to 60 µm. Principle of impedance counting blood cells of a diluted blood sample pass a measuring sensor in single file.

Presently over 98 of automated cell counters incorporate this technology which is referred to as the coulter principle. This test is often included with a complete blood count cbc. It s also known as an erythrocyte count. A coulter counter is an apparatus for counting and sizing particles suspended in electrolytes.