Studies of the deformation characteristics of living cells can offer insights into the connections among mechanical state, chemical and biological responses and the onset, progression of diseases. Deformation imposed by optical tweezers provides a useful means for the study of single cell mechanics under a variety of well-controlled stress-states. In this paper, the mechanics of the human red blood cell (erythrocyte) are subjected to deformation by optical tweezers. We then present new experimental and elastic properties of human red blood cells using a trapped silica bead in optical tweezers. The mean values of the properties obtained, in particular the elastic stiffness and the shear stiffness, were Eh = (10.82 ± 0.24) μN/m and Gh = (4.10 ± 0.89) μN/m. These results show that this approach to stretch the red blood cell can be used as an over method for RBC study.
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