Microfluidic Device for Measuring the Deformability of Red Cells Parasitized by Plasmodium Falciparum

Central to the pathology of falciparum malaria is a reduction in the deformability of the infected red blood cells (RBCs). To enable improved methods to study this disease, we developed a microfluidic device to measure the deformability of infected cells. Individual RBCs are first infused into a series of funnel shaped constrictions. The deformability of individual cells is measured using the pressure required to deform each cell through a constriction. Using this device, we found that parasitized RBCs from ring through schizont stages show distinct deformability distributions with mean values that are 1.5 to 200 times stiffer than uninfected cells.