Total White Blood Cell(Leukocyte) Count

 

Total leukocyte count

Leukocytes or white blood cells (WBCs) form a part of the immune system of the body. There are five types of WBCs in blood. Total Leukocyte Count Test measures the total amount of all the leukocytes in blood.

 

 

Material required

• Ø  Compound microscope
• Ø  Hemocytometer
• Ø  white blood cell diluting pipette with rubber tube
• Ø  Counting chamber
• Ø  Glass cover
• Ø  Cotton
• Ø  Blood sample
• Ø  white blood cell diluting fluid ( 1% HCL solution)

 

Procedure

• Ø  Take blood in the pipette up to 0.5 marks and wipe the excess blood with cotton.
• Ø  The tip of the pipette is immediately dip into the diluting fluid and draw fluid into tube up to 11 mark.
• Ø  Keep the pipette horizontally by finger thumb and shake pipette gently.
• Ø  Place Hemocytometer under microscope and cover with cover slip over the chamber. Find the counting chamber with 10X objective. Discard 2, 3 drops of solution and put few drops of solution into counting chamber and start count the cells under 10X objective lens. 4 corner square to be count for total leukocyte count.
• Ø  The counted number of cell is multiplied by calculation factor 1/50 and result is expressed in thousand/cubic mm.

 

Calculation:

Area of chamber = 4mm square

Depth of chamber =0.1 mm = 1/10mm

Diluting factor= 1:20

Total area = 1/50 cubic mm.

WBC counting chamber