Liquid crystalline properties of rheumatoid arthritis erythrocyte ghosts: A polarized light microscopy study

Abstract

Liquid crystalline textures of Normal (N) and Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) inflicted erythrocyte ghosts (EG) were studied to determine characteristics of the membrane. This is to obtain a macroscopic description of the cell in the normal and abnormal states. N and RA were studied by optical microscopy having N as a reference and both revealed birefringence. N displayed more textures of the lamellar phase. RA exhibited deformed lamellar and hexagonal phase textures in broken sample boundaries. The hexagonal phase was dominant in the RA sample as shown by the batonnets more prominent in the textures. Development of this research may be of value in diagnostic and curative medicine as well.