BACKGROUND Since mature erythrocytes are terminally differentiated cells without nuclei and organelles, it is commonly thought that they do not contain nucleic acids. In this study, we have re-examined this issue by analyzing the transcriptome of a purified population of human mature erythrocytes from individuals with normal hemoglobin (HbAA) and homozygous sickle cell disease (HbSS). METHODS...

In the present study, we employed flow cytometry to evaluate the level of parasitemia of Babesia gibsoni infecting canine erythrocytes in vivo and in vitro by using fluorescent nucleic acid staining. Peripheral blood samples from a B. gibsoni-infected dog and cultured B. gibsoni parasitizing in canine erythrocytes were stained with a membrane-permeable fluorescent nucleic acid stain, SYTO16. In...

Eryptosis, a suicidal death of mature erythrocytes, is characterized by decrease of cell volume, cell membrane blebbing, and breakdown of cell membrane asymmetry with phosphatidylserine exposure at the cell surface. Triggers of eryptosis include increased cytosolic Ca(2+) activity, which could result from activation of Ca(2+)-permeable cation channels. Ca(2+) triggers phosphatidylserine exposur...

Erythrocytes from patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) contained a subpopulation that lacked membrane-associated Factor H-like activity present on normal human erythrocytes. Initial deposition of C3b on the erythrocytes was effected using a fluid phase C3 convertase. The cells were then treated with fluorescein-labeled C3 and the cell-bound C3 convertase. Analysis utilizing t...

Decay-accelerating factor (DAF) and CD59 are 2 glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored membrane proteins that inhibit complement activation at the C3 and C5b-9 step, respectively. CD59 is considered critical for protecting erythrocytes from spontaneous complement attack, as deficiency of CD59 or CD59/DAF, but not of DAF alone, on human erythrocytes renders them sensitive to complement lysis in pa...

the effects of chronic metabolic acidosis, alkalosis and alloxan-induced ketoacidosis on g6pd activity of rat kidney, liver and erythrocytes were studied. metabolic acidosis significantly increased the activity of kidney enzyme (55%) but decreased the liver (43%) and erythrocyte (38%) enzyme activities. alkalosis did not make a significant change in the kidney or liver enzyme activity but sligh...

We show that mouse sperm die spontaneously within 1-2 days in culture and that treatment with either staurosporine (STS) and cycloheximide (CHX) or a peptide caspase inhibitor does not accelerate or delay the cell death. Chicken erythrocytes, by contrast, are induced to die by either serum deprivation or treatment with STS and CHX, and embryonic erythrocytes are more sensitive than adult erythr...

The mitogen- and stress-activated kinase MSK1/2 plays a decisive role in apoptosis. In analogy to apoptosis of nucleated cells, suicidal erythrocyte death called eryptosis is characterized by cell shrinkage and cell membrane scrambling leading to phosphatidylserine (PS) externalization. Here, we explored whether MSK1/2 participates in the regulation of eryptosis. To this end, erythrocytes were ...

Eryptosis, the suicidal death of erythrocytes, is characterized by exposure of phosphatidylserine at the erythrocyte surface and cell shrinkage. Triggers of eryptosis include anandamide. Enhanced eryptosis of infected human erythrocytes is expected to delay the development of parasitaemia during infection with Plasmodium, the parasite causing malaria. The present experiments aimed to test, whet...

Both hypochlorite and ionizing radiation induce oxidation processes of biomolecules. The effects are dependent to a large degree on the dose of the oxidizing agent. Previously we observed that split doses of gamma radiation caused lower hemolysis than the same but single doses. The critical factors influencing the occurrence of this effect were: the value of the first dose and the time between ...