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Torque-generating malaria-infected red blood cells in an optical trap

J.A. Dharmadhikari, S. Roy, A.K. Dharmadhikari, S. Sharma, and D. Mathur

Open Access Open Access

Abstract

We have used optical tweezers to trap normal and Plasmodium-infected red blood cells (iRBCs). Two different facets of the behavior of RBCs in infrared light fields emerge from our experiments. Firstly, while the optical field modifies both types of RBCs in the same fashion, by folding the original biconcave disk into a rod-like shape, iRBCs rotate with linearly polarized light whereas normal RBCs do not. Secondly, and in the context of known molecular motors, our measurements indicate that the torque of rotating iRBCs is up to three orders of magnitude larger.

©2004 Optical Society of America

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Supplementary Material (4)

Media 1: MPG (326 KB)     
Media 2: MPG (1012 KB)     
Media 3: MPG (1266 KB)     
Media 4: MPG (1174 KB)     

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Figures (3)
Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. Time evolution of folding (334 KB) and unfolding (1.04 MB) of red blood cells (RBCs) infected with Plasmodium falciparum [29] in an optical trap using a linearly polarized infrared laser. Panel a shows the initial state where an infected RBC approaches the laser focus (ca. 1 µm diameter). Panels b and c show the trapped RBC undergoing folding and twisting due to polarization-induced optical forces such that a rod-like shape is achieved within ~2 s. On removal of the laser beam, unfolding to the original shape occurs (panels d-f) on a longer time scale.

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Fig. 2.
Fig. 2. Discrete frames from a movie (1.29 MB) depicting rotation of an infected RBC in the optical trap. The arrow helps identify the direction of rotation. Times associated with each frame are indicated; the speed of rotation was 120 revolutions per minute (rpm). The rotational speeds achieved in these experiments covered the range 19–300 rpm. The untrapped cells visible in the frames were outside the laser focus and underwent Brownian motion.

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Fig. 3.
Fig. 3. Controlling the sense of rotation by altering the position of the infected RBC with respect to the focal plane of laser beam. If the cell is at position a), anti-clockwise rotation is observed (1.29 MB). The cell at position b) rotates in clockwise direction (1.20 MB). The rotational speeds remain the same as long as laser power does not change. The k-vector (see text) is along the laser propagation direction while the E-vector lies perpendicular to it but in the same plane.

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