I am in a lab without microscopes. Can anyone recommend an affordable method / product for cell counting of human platelets (~1.5 - 3um)?
Thank you!
I would recommend to use hematocrit capillary. The cappilary is filled with a small amount of solution containing platelets and then centrifuged. According to the sediment from a reading card you can find about your amount of platelets inside. For example: https://www.hirschmann-laborgeraete.de/en/artikelgruppe/91001
I think counting platelets using a light microscope and a haemocytometer slide, is the minimum reliable method you could use, otherwise you would risk getting erroneous results. A better option (in terms of test accuracy and precision) is to use use a haematology analyser, but this is obviously more extensive than manual counting. Having said that, haematology textbooks provide recommendations for estimating platelet counts from a routine blood film (which then again needs a microscope), but this is not a real quantitative test, and it is often used to check for some random errors of analysers, or to find out whether a specimen mix-up has bee happened. I hope this is useful.
I'm sorry but, to my knowledge PLT counting can't be performed, without a microscope, keeping an acceptable accuracy.
As far as the suggested methodology with hematocrit capillary, numerous unknown variables interfere with the supposed counting, PLT volume in primis. As an example, some thrombocytopenias having an increased MPV could have a falsely higher "counting" with that method
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