EFFECT OF AN INHOMOGENEOUS DISTRIBUTION ON DETERMINATION OF EXTINCTION OF MONOERYTHROCYTE LAYERS AND OF SINGLE ERYTHROCYTES

When the extinction of single eryhrocytes or monoerythrocyte layers is measured, an essential condition for the validity of the Lambert-Beer law, namely, the homogeneous distribution of the dissolved substance, is not fulfilled. The effect that an inhomogeneity of this type has on the measured value, together with the possibilities that exist for correcting the measured value, if the inhomogeneity is known, are demonstrated. A simple, illustrative, two-compartment system is discussed in great detail, and the effect of inhomogeneity upon it represented with the aid of two diagrams, in which the coverage factor α is introduced as the inhomogeneity dimension. Furthermore, it is shown that the additional error, caused by the respective erythrocyte form, can generally be neglected, as far as the error occasioned by the coverage factor is concerned. © 1969 Springer-Verlag.