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The Role of Red Blood Cell Hemodynamic Functionality in Health and Disease

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Pathology, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 June 2025) | Viewed by 778

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Biochemistry, The Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91120, Israel
Interests: red blood cells; RBC adherence; RBC deformability; microcirculation; RBC transfusion; transfusion in premature

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Biochemistry Department, The Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 9112102, Israel
Interests: red blood cells; RBC deformability; RBC fragility; RBC storage; biorheology
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Red Blood Cells (RBCs) have special morphological and structural characteristics, expressed by their membrane and cytoskeleton composition and their interactions with hemoglobin and other cytosolic molecules, enabling their unique physiological functions. The primary role of RBC is the transport of respiratory gases. However, RBCs also have unique flow-affecting properties, which determine their hemodynamic functionality, namely, their potential to affect blood circulation and the vascular system. These include RBC deformability, the potential adherence to the blood vessel wall, self-aggregability, and fragility. These properties are altered in numerous pathological conditions (e.g., congenital hemoglobinopathies, cardiovascular conditions, diabetes, and more) and during blood processing and storage in the blood bank. They are associated with structural and biochemical changes. RBCs with impaired hemodynamic functionality interfere with blood circulation and may lead to circulatory disorders, vascular occlusion, and infarction.

In the current Special Issue, we collect new investigations addressing the hemodynamic aspects of RBCs in different pathological states. In addition, we intend to discuss the correlation between biochemical/biophysical features of RBC and their hemodynamics. Moreover, a discussion of the influence of external factors (e.g., oxidative stress, glucose, and shear stress) on RBC hemodynamics would be welcome. These issues can be discussed from an experimental, clinical, or numerical point of view. Since IJMS is a journal of molecular science, pure clinical studies will not be suitable for our journal. However, clinical submissions with biomolecular experiments are welcome.

Prof. Dr. Saul Yedgar
Dr. Gregory Barshtein
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • red blood cells
  • RBC flow-affecting properties
  • RBC deformability
  • RBC aggregation
  • RBC adherence
  • RBC fragility
  • blood circulation disorders
  • blood transfusion

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 1064 KB  
Article
Variability in the Deformability of Red Blood Cells: Application to Treating Premature Newborns with Blood Transfusion
by Dan Arbell, Alexander Gural, Gregory Barshtein, Sinan Abu-Leil, Lisandro Luques, Benny Gazer and Saul Yedgar
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2025, 26(17), 8144; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26178144 - 22 Aug 2025
Viewed by 140
Abstract
Blood units are routinely collected from adult donors and stored as packed red blood cells (PRBC). The quality of PRBC, including their deformability, decreases during storage. Since PRBC transfusion has been reported to promote circulatory issues in premature neonates (PNs), they typically receive [...] Read more.
Blood units are routinely collected from adult donors and stored as packed red blood cells (PRBC). The quality of PRBC, including their deformability, decreases during storage. Since PRBC transfusion has been reported to promote circulatory issues in premature neonates (PNs), they typically receive freshly stored units. To test the hypothesis that freshly stored PRBCs can provide red blood cells (RBCs) with appropriate deformability for PN recipients, we compared the deformability of PRBCs transfused to PNs with that of cord blood RBCs (CRBCs), which are known to have deformability equivalent to that of newborn RBCs (PN-RBC). We found that, on average, CRBC deformability was higher than that of PRBCs. However, both showed significant variability with overlapping ranges. A highly significant correlation was observed between cell deformability and the combined levels of specific membrane proteins (ezrin, stomatin, flotillins) and membrane-bound hemoglobin (Pearson coefficient > 0.70, p < 0.02). This study indicates that the storage duration is inadequate for selecting PRBCs for PN recipients. PRBCs with deformability similar to that of PN-RBCs could enable safer and more effective transfusions for PN patients. Measuring membrane proteins alongside membrane-bound hemoglobin can serve as a useful method for selecting appropriate PRBC units for transfusion to PNs. Full article
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