Leukocytes’ «highlighting» effect and its application to identify blood cells by digital microscopy method

Objective: To find a way of identifying and counting of leukocytes in a native blood sample. Materials and equipments: Whole donor blood sample, digital microscop. Methods and approaches: The development of a method of leukocytes’ identification and counting for native blood samples was carried out on the basis of digital microscopy method. Main results: Leukocytes’ “highlighting” effect in a native blood sample was revealed experimentally by digital microscope examining. The effect is that when a microscope lens, initially focused on the object, is removed away from the leukocyte, its image becomes transformed and cell’s image brightness increases. At the same time, this phenomenon is not observed in respect to erythrocytes and platelets, what makes it possible to distinguish leukocyte from other types of blood cells during their counting. The effect revealed experimentally is not observed on any type of blood cells including leucocytes for the case of smears. It has been shown experimentally that the effect observed is based on the “lens” mechanism. Statistical studies were carried out on a variety of native blood cells. It is shown that the application of leukocytes’ “highlighting” effect gives a significant increase in the accuracy of counting of these type of cells when native blood formula is under analysis by digital microscopy method.