White cells are less refractile than red cells and appear somewhat granular. In general, white cells will be larger than red cells. However, an additional procedure beyond unstained brightfield microscopic visualization of the cells may be necessary to distinguish RBCs from other cells. This will be discussed on the next page.
- If cells are counted in the four corner squares and the center square on both sides of the hemocytometer, the number of cells counted equals the number of cells/mm3 which is the equivalent of cells/µL.
- The ruled area of one side of a hemocytometer is shown on the bottom right, marked with routine counting squares for red and white cell counts. Each large square is 1 mm2 by 0.1 mm (chamber depth).
The standard Neubauer counting chamber formula shown on the top right is used to perform manual cell counts.
- Number of cells counted on each side of the hemacytometer.
- Use the dilution factor for the dilution that was performed.
- Area is the number of larger squares that were used to count.
- 0.1 is the standard chamber depth, this number does not change.
