Plasminogen activators (PAs; e.g., tissue-type, tPA) coupled to red blood cells (RBCs) display in vivo features useful for thromboprophylaxis: prolonged circulation, minimal extravasation, and preferential lysis of nascent versus preexisting clots. Yet, factors controlling the activity of RBC-bound PAs in vivo are not defined and may not mirror the profile of soluble PAs. We tested the role of ...

Red blood cells (RBC) from favic patients are characterized by (a) severe oxidative damage (contributed by autoxidation of divicine and isouramil, two pyrimidine aglycones present in fava beans) and (b) greatly increased calcium levels. In vitro, both autoxidation of divicine and calcium loading produced marked alterations of proteolytic systems in intact RBC. Specifically, autoxidizing divicin...

Although the effects of red blood cell (RBC) aggregation on low-shear rate blood viscosity are well known, the effects on in vivo flow resistance are still not fully resolved. The present study was designed to explore the in vivo effects of RBC aggregation on flow resistance using a novel technique to enhance aggregation: cells are covalently coated with a block copolymer (Pluronic F-98) and th...

BACKGROUND Red blood cell (RBC) n-3 fatty acid status is related to various health outcomes. Accepted biological markers for the fatty acid status determination are RBC phospholipids, phosphatidylcholine, and phosphatidyletholamine. The analysis of these lipid fractions is demanding and time consuming and total phospholipid n-3 fatty acid levels might be affected by changes of sphingomyelin con...

It is hypothesized that membrane-associated iron in the sickle red cell is of pathophysiologic importance, but the actual existence of such iron in the intact cell has been questioned. Using a strategy whereby membrane iron can be detected through its bioavailability for catalyzing peroxidation, we used phospholipid exchange protein to load membranes of intact erythrocytes (RBC) with approximat...

BACKGROUND The duration of storage of transfused red blood cells (RBC) has been associated with poor clinical outcomes in some studies. We sought to establish whether prolonged storage of transfused RBC in cancer patients influences overall survival (OS) or cancer recurrence. METHODS AND FINDINGS Patients diagnosed with cancer at The Ottawa Regional Cancer Centre between January 01, 2000 and ...

In a number of clinical circumstances it would be desirable to artificially conceal cellular antigenic determinants to permit survival of heterologous donor cells. A case in point is the problem encountered in transfusions of patients with rare blood types or chronically transfused patients who become allosensitized to minor blood group determinants. We have tested the possibility that chemical...

Human erythrocytes (RBC) from whole blood were separated according to their specific densities by centrifugation on a polyvinyl-pyrrolidine-coated colloidal silica matrix (Percoll) into four major subpopulations. By indirect immunofluorescence assay, the most dense RBC subpopulation, with specific density greater than 1.110 g/ml (3%-5% of total RBC), was positive for membrane-bound immunoglobul...