Optical Manipulation of Erythrocytes via Evanescent Waves: Assessing Glucose-Induced Mobility Variations
Optics
2026-03-10 v2 Biological Physics
Cell Behavior
Quantitative Methods
Abstract
This study investigates the dynamics of red blood cells (RBCs) under the influence of evanescent waves generated by total internal reflection (TIR). Using a 1064 nm laser system and a dual-chamber prism setup, we quantified the mobility of erythrocytes in different glucose environments. Our methodology integrates automated tracking via TrackMate\c{opyright} to analyze over 60 trajectory sets. The results reveal a significant decrease in mean velocity, from 11.8 {\mu}m/s in 5 mM glucose to 8.8 {\mu}m/s in 50 mM glucose (p = 0.019). These findings suggest that evanescent waves can serve as a non-invasive tool to probe the mechanical properties of cell membranes influenced by biochemical changes.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2601.15502,
title = {Optical Manipulation of Erythrocytes via Evanescent Waves: Assessing Glucose-Induced Mobility Variations},
author = {T. Troncoso Enríquez and J. Staforelli-Vivanco and I. Bordeu and M. González-Ortiz},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.15502},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
5 pages, pre-print