INACCURACIES ASSOCIATED WITH THE AUTOMATED MEASUREMENT OF MEAN CELL HEMOGLOBIN CONCENTRATION IN DEHYDRATED CELLS

  • 1 January 1980
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 56  (1) , 125-128
Abstract
Because of discrepancies between electronically and manually measured values of mean cell Hb concentration (MCHC) encountered in studies of pathologic red cells, the effect of cell water content on MCHC measurements was studied by both methods. A series human red cell samples with varying water contents (54-164% normal) were prepared from normal cells using the antibiotic nystatin. MCHC was then measured, using the microhematocrit centrifuge and 3 different electronic cell counters in common laboratory use. For MCHC values above 36 g/dl as measured by the spun hematocrit method, all 3 electronic counters underestimated the MCHC, with increasing error as the true MCHC increased. For MCHC values below 30 g/dl, the values from 2 conductivity based instruments agreed with those from the spun hematocrit method, whereas 1 instrument based on light scattering overestimated the MCHC. Inaccuracies in the measured mean cell volume (MCV) of dehydrated or otherwise undeformable cells may lead to spurious values for MCHC when electronic cell counters are used.