Anaesthetic-induced malignant hyperpyrexia in humans appears to result from some intrinsic abnormality of muscle (Satnick, 1969; Harrison et aL, 1970; King, Denborough and Zapf, 1972). Evidence points to this defect being in the sarcoplasmic reticulum (Kalow et al., 1970). A certain strain of Landrace pigs manifests a similar condition and has been used as an animal experimental model for the i...

Allium cepa (onion) and Allium sativa (garlic) are bulbous herbs used as food item, spice and medicine in different parts of the world. The effects of onion and garlic on the osmotic fragility of red blood cells in albino rats were assessed in vivo and in vitro. In the in vivo studies, five albino rats weighing between 150 - 200g composed each of three study groups. Group A were administered 15...

By J. GUREVITCH AND D. NELKEN D URING PREVIOUS STUDIES on the ABO antigens of blood platelets’4 it was observed that storage of platelet suspemisions its normal saline resulted in a gradual decrease of their agglutinability by antisera, similar to the decrease of agglutinability of red blood cells stored in saline. This similarity in the behavior of erythrocytes and thrombocytes suggested the s...

The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of chronic co-exposure to chlorpyrifos (CPF) and deltamethrin (DLT) on erythrocyte osmotic fragility, lipid peroxidation and the ameliorative effect of alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) on erythrocyte fragility. Thirty-six male Wistar rats divided into six groups of six rats each were used for the study. Groups I (S/oil) and II (ALA) were given soya oil (2 m...

The effectiveness of the one tube method of osmotic fragility with three buffered solutions (0.32% saline, 0.36% saline, and tyrode) as a screening test for beta-thalassaemia trait was evaluated in several groups of subjects from Greece, Yugoslavia, and Thailand. The results clearly demonstrated that 0.36% saline is the most sensitive and effective solution since it could detect 96 to 100% of h...

Usually packed red blood cells (pRBCs) require specific conditions in storage procedures to ensure the maximum shelf life of up to 42 days in 2-6°C. However, molecular and biochemical consequences can affect the stored blood cells; these changes are collectively labeled as storage lesions. In this study, the effect of prolonged storage was assessed through investigating morphological changes an...

his issue of Haematologica contains an interesting paper by Ida Bianco (Figure 1) and co-workers on the molecular diagnosis of a-thalassemia, one of the innumerable contributions (by no means the last) that this gentle, inexhaustible lady has made to our present knowledge of thalassemia. I met her last spring in Naples, of course at a meeting on thalassemia, and, like the rest of the audience, ...

The present study has examined the effect of elevated glucose levels on membrane lipid peroxidation and osmotic fragility in human red blood cells (RBC). Defibrinated whole blood or RBC were incubated with varying concentrations of glucose at 37 degrees C for 24 h. RBC incubated with elevated levels of glucose showed a significantly increased membrane lipid peroxidation when compared with contr...

BACKGROUND Red blood cells (RBCs) undergo a natural aging process occurring in the blood circulation throughout the RBC lifespan or during routine cold storage in the blood bank. The aging of RBCs is associated with the elevation of mechanical fragility (MF) or osmotic fragility (OF) of RBCs, which can lead to cell lysis. The present study was undertaken to identify RBC properties that characte...