Biochemical and Biophysical Properties of Red Blood Cells

Topic Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is our pleasure to announce that we have opened a Special Topic dedicated to novel studies of biochemical and biophysical properties of red blood cells (RBC) in disease. The most abundant body cell type, red blood cells, is exceptional due to several unique morphological, hemodynamic, and even metabolic characteristics. The unique properties of the RBC membrane and cytoskeleton components, as well as the molecular interactions and regulation of hemoglobin and other cytosolic molecules, precisely determine their unique functionality in the transport of respiratory gases and physiological regulations. It is clear that under numerous inherited and pathological conditions (e.g., congenital hemoglobinopathies, cardiovascular and metabolic abnormalities, infections) and under aging (in vivo and during storage), RBCs' biochemical and biophysical features can be drastically altered. These aspects are at the top of dynamic, interdisciplinary, and multifaceted RBC research. Here, we collect new investigations addressing biochemical, biophysical, and physiological aspects of RBCs in different pathological states in the current topic. State-of-the-art novel findings pertaining to the interaction of erythrocytes with external factors and implications of this exposure in health will be welcome. These issues can be discussed from an experimental, clinical, or numerical point of view.

Dr. Leonid Livshits
Dr. Gregory Barshtein
Topic Editors

Keywords

Participating Journals

Journal Name	Impact Factor	CiteScore	Launched Year	First Decision (median)	APC
Applied Sciences applsci	2.5	5.3	2011	17.8 Days	CHF 2400
Biomolecules biomolecules	4.8	9.4	2011	16.3 Days	CHF 2700
Cells cells	5.1	9.9	2012	17.5 Days	CHF 2700
International Journal of Molecular Sciences ijms	4.9	8.1	2000	18.1 Days	CHF 2900
Journal of Clinical Medicine jcm	3.0	5.7	2012	17.3 Days	CHF 2600

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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All Applied Sciences Biomolecules Cells IJMS JCM

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Open AccessArticle

Effect of Cell Age and Membrane Rigidity on Red Blood Cell Shape in Capillary Flow

by Mohammed Nouaman, Alexis Darras, Thomas John, Greta Simionato, Minke A. E. Rab, Richard van Wijk, Matthias W. Laschke, Lars Kaestner, Christian Wagner and Steffen M. Recktenwald

Cells 2023, 12(11), 1529; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells12111529 - 1 Jun 2023

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2354

Abstract

Blood flow in the microcirculatory system is crucially affected by intrinsic red blood cell (RBC) properties, such as their deformability. In the smallest vessels of this network, RBCs adapt their shapes to the flow conditions. Although it is known that the age of [...] Read more.

Blood flow in the microcirculatory system is crucially affected by intrinsic red blood cell (RBC) properties, such as their deformability. In the smallest vessels of this network, RBCs adapt their shapes to the flow conditions. Although it is known that the age of RBCs modifies their physical properties, such as increased cytosol viscosity and altered viscoelastic membrane properties, the evolution of their shape-adapting abilities during senescence remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the effect of RBC properties on the microcapillary in vitro flow behavior and their characteristic shapes in microfluidic channels. For this, we fractioned RBCs from healthy donors according to their age. Moreover, the membranes of fresh RBCs were chemically rigidified using diamide to study the effect of isolated graded-membrane rigidity. Our results show that a fraction of stable, asymmetric, off-centered slipper-like cells at high velocities decreases with increasing age or diamide concentration. However, while old cells form an enhanced number of stable symmetric croissants at the channel centerline, this shape class is suppressed for purely rigidified cells with diamide. Our study provides further knowledge about the distinct effects of age-related changes of intrinsic cell properties on the single-cell flow behavior of RBCs in confined flows due to inter-cellular age-related cell heterogeneity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Biochemical and Biophysical Properties of Red Blood Cells)

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11 pages, 1384 KiB  

Open AccessArticle

Reticulocyte Hemoglobin-Equivalent Potentially Detects, Diagnoses and Discriminates between Stages of Iron Deficiency with High Sensitivity and Specificity

by Majed N. Almashjary, Ahmed S. Barefah, Salem Bahashwan, Ibraheem Ashankyty, Refaat ElFayoumi, Majed Alzahrani, Duaa M. Assaqaf, Raghad S. Aljabri, Amera Y. Aljohani, Rema Muslim, Sara A. Baawad, Waleed M. Bawazir and Saif A. Alharthy

J. Clin. Med. 2022, 11(19), 5675; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11195675 - 26 Sep 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3346

Abstract

Background: Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is a global health problem affecting the quality of life of more than 2 billion individuals. The current practice guidelines diagnose and monitor IDA via conventional hematological and iron biomarkers, which take several months before they are corrected [...] Read more.

Background: Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is a global health problem affecting the quality of life of more than 2 billion individuals. The current practice guidelines diagnose and monitor IDA via conventional hematological and iron biomarkers, which take several months before they are corrected under an iron-treatment plan. Reticulocyte hemoglobin equivalent (Ret-He) is used as a marker in most new hematology analyzers to assess iron incorporation into erythrocyte hemoglobin directly. This study aims to examine the efficacy of Ret-He as a marker for iron deficiency (ID) and IDA and investigate whether Ret-He is sensitive to iron therapy. Methods: Two blood samples were drawn from 182 participants for CBC and iron profile measurements. Follow-up samples were drawn from participants with a confirmed diagnosis of ID and/or IDA. Results: Ret-He levels were lower in the ID and IDA groups compared to the control (p < 0.0001), and lower in the IDA group compared to the ID group (p < 0.0001). Ret-He was correlated with ferritin at ID level (<30.0 mg/mL; r = 0.39) and severe IDA (<13.0 ng/mL; p-value < 0.01, r = 0.57). Cut-off values of <28.25 pg for ID and <21.55 pg for IDA showed a higher specificity and sensitivity (ID; AUC: 0.99, sensitivity: 92.73%, specificity: 97.87%) and (IDA; AUC: 0.94, sensitivity: 90.63%, specificity: 92.31%). Finally, Ret-He successfully reflected the iron therapy (p < 0.001) when compared to hemoglobin (Hb) (p = 0.1). Conclusions: Ret-He is a potential marker for detecting and diagnosing different stages of ID with high validity and is very sensitive in reflecting the iron incorporation in a short time. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Biochemical and Biophysical Properties of Red Blood Cells)

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Supplementary File 1 (ZIP, 900 KiB)

16 pages, 5188 KiB  

Open AccessArticle

Effective Optical Image Assessment of Cellulose Paper Immunostrips for Blood Typing

by Katarzyna Ratajczak, Karolina Sklodowska-Jaros, Ewelina Kalwarczyk, Jacek A. Michalski, Slawomir Jakiela and Magdalena Stobiecka

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(15), 8694; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23158694 - 4 Aug 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3507

Abstract

Novel high-performance biosensing devices, based on a microporous cellulose matrix, have been of great interest due to their high sensitivity, low cost, and simple operation. Herein, we report on the design and testing of portable paper-based immunostrips (IMS) for in-field blood typing in [...] Read more.

Novel high-performance biosensing devices, based on a microporous cellulose matrix, have been of great interest due to their high sensitivity, low cost, and simple operation. Herein, we report on the design and testing of portable paper-based immunostrips (IMS) for in-field blood typing in emergencies requiring blood transfusion. Cellulose fibrils of a paper membrane were functionalized with antibodies via supramolecular interactions. The formation of hydrogen bonds between IgM pentamer and cellulose fibers was corroborated using quantum mechanical calculations with a model cellulose chain and a representative amino acid sequence. In the proposed immunostrips, paper with a pore size of 3 µm dia. was used to enable functionalization of its channels with antibody molecules while blocking the red blood cells (RBC) from channel entering. Under the optimized test conditions, all blood types of AB0 and Rh system could be determined by naked eye examination, requiring only a small blood sample (3.5 µL). The durability of IgM immunostrips against storing has been tested. A new method of statistical evaluation of digitized blood agglutination images, compatible with a clinical five-level system, has been proposed. Critical parameters of the agglutination process have been established to enable future development of automatic blood typing with machine vision and digital data processing. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Biochemical and Biophysical Properties of Red Blood Cells)

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