Although sickle erythrocytes (RBC) undergo excessive autooxidation, investigators have not found evidence for abnormal oxidation of protein thiols in sickle RBC membranes (e.g., protein aggregates linked by intermolecular disulfide bonds). However, the conventional techniques heretofore used cannot detect more subtle changes in thiol status such as abnormal intramolecular disulfide bonds. We ex...

The past two decades have witnessed increased scrutiny regarding efficacy and risk of the once unquestioned therapy of red blood cell (RBC) transfusion. Simultaneously, a variety of changes have been identified within the RBC and storage media during RBC preservation that are correlated with reduced tissue oxygenation and transfusion-associated adverse effects. These alterations are collectivel...

Advancing age alters the structural and functional determinants of convective and diffusive muscle oxygen (O(2)) flux. However, capillary red blood cell (RBC) hemodynamics have not been investigated during contractions in muscles of old animals. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that aging induces significant capillary hemodynamic alterations during electrically-induced contractions in the sp...

INTRODUCTION Given the severity of the current imbalance between blood donor supply and recipient demand, discarded blood drawn from the routine venesections of haemochromatosis (HFE-HH) patients may serve as a valuable alternative source for blood banks and transfusion. We investigated whether functional or biochemical differences existed between HFE-HH and control blood samples, with particul...

The gelatinolytic activity of human skin fibroblast collagenase was examined on denatured collagen types I-V. All denatured substrates were cleaved, including types IV and V, which are resistant to collagenase in native form. Interestingly, the earliest major cleavage in denatured collagen types I-III occurred at a 3/4-1/4 locus, resulting in products electrophoretically identical with TCA and ...

NMR studies on the denatured states of proteins indicate that residual structure often resides predominantly in hydrophobic clusters. Such hydrophobic cluster formation implies burial of apolar surface and, consequently, is expected to cause a decrease in heat capacity. We report here that, in the case of ribonuclease H from the thermophile Thermus thermophilus, a sharp decrease in denatured-st...

OBJECTIVES Extremely high concentration of folates in premature newborns: case reports. BACKGROUND Folates are a group of water soluble compounds, which are important for metabolic processes in human body. These are important during periods of rapid cell growth. The most accurate indicator of long-term folate level status in the body is the determination of red blood cell (RBC) folate concent...

Skeletal muscle blood flow is reduced and O(2) extraction is increased at rest in chronic heart failure (CHF). Knowledge of red blood cell (RBC) flow distribution within the capillary network is necessary for modeling O(2) delivery and exchange in this disease. Intravital microscopy techniques were used to study the in vivo spinotrapezius muscle microcirculation in rats with CHF 7 wk after myoc...