Effects of lost surface area on red cells and red cell survival in
mice.
Waugh, Richard E., and Ingrid H. Sarelius.
Department of Biophysics, University of Rochester School of
Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY 14642
APStracts 3:0187C, 1996.
The effects of removing area from mouse red blood cells on the fate of
the cells after reinfusion were investigated. When cells were made
nearly spherical (by reducing cell area by _35%) and then reinfused
into the animal, most were cleared from the circulation within one to
two hours, although _20% of the cells survived for four hours or
longer. When only 20% of the area was removed (leaving a 15% excess)
more than 90% of the cells continued to circulate for four hours.
After reinfusion, the mean surface area of the surviving cells
remained constant (73-75 [mu]m2), but the mean volume decreased, from
56.6+/-2.1 [mu]m3 to 49.1+/-1.5 [mu]m3 (+/- S.D. of five replicates)
over four hours. These changes did not occur in cells suspended in
plasma but not reinfused into the animal. Thus, a loss of surface
area results in a decrease in cell volume, as if to maintain a
requisite degree of deformability. The results support the hypothesis
that the increase in cell density associated with increasing cell age
may be a consequence of surface area loss.
Received 13 March 1996; accepted in final form 5 June 1996.
APS Manuscript Number C144-6.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Cell Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1996 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 28 June 96