Thomas J Reese,Eli H Worth,Mark K Fugate,M T Levitt,Frank A Ferrone
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
In sickle cell anemia, deoxygenation causes erythrocytes to distort, while reoxgenation permits them to recover a normal biconcave disk shape. Irreversibly sickled cells (ISCs) cells remain distorted when reoxygenated and have been thought to have among the highest intracellular hemoglobin concentration of the sickle red cell population and therefore the greatest vulnerability to vaso-occlusion. Using a new optical method, which we describe, we have made precise measurements of the intracellular hemoglobin concentration, and intracellular O2 saturation, of ISCs, as well as oxygenated sickle cells with a normal biconcave disc shape, and cells with shapes distorted by the sickle fibers they contain. This method also provides good estimates of cell volumes, and hemoglobin per red cell. The concentration distribution of the ISCs is found to be similar to normal, discoid cells. Average ISC volumes exceed their discoid counterparts, with a much broader distribution, arguing against dehydration as their origin. The concentration distribution of the polymer-laden sickled cells is significantly higher in mean value, and their volume distributions indicate some dehydration. Previous assumptions about ISCs may have thus been colored by the presence of sickle cells that did contain polymer, and that true ISC's may be much more benign than once thought, which underscores the importance of accurate measurement on individual cells. This method could be used to follow changes in individual cell properties under various specific perturbations, and where characterization by flow cytometry is infeasible.
期刊介绍:
BJ publishes original articles, letters, and perspectives on important problems in modern biophysics. The papers should be written so as to be of interest to a broad community of biophysicists. BJ welcomes experimental studies that employ quantitative physical approaches for the study of biological systems, including or spanning scales from molecule to whole organism. Experimental studies of a purely descriptive or phenomenological nature, with no theoretical or mechanistic underpinning, are not appropriate for publication in BJ. Theoretical studies should offer new insights into the understanding ofexperimental results or suggest new experimentally testable hypotheses. Articles reporting significant methodological or technological advances, which have potential to open new areas of biophysical investigation, are also suitable for publication in BJ. Papers describing improvements in accuracy or speed of existing methods or extra detail within methods described previously are not suitable for BJ.