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Temperature sensitivity of suicidal erythrocyte death
Author(s) -
Föller Michael,
Braun Manuel,
Qadri Syed M.,
Lang Elisabeth,
Mahmud Hasan,
Lang Florian
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
european journal of clinical investigation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.164
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1365-2362
pISSN - 0014-2972
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2362.2010.02296.x
Subject(s) - sensitivity (control systems) , medicine , engineering , electronic engineering
Eur J Clin Invest 2010; 40 (6): 534–540 Abstract Background Fever and hyperthermia are frequently associated with anaemia. Under most clinical conditions, they are considered to be two mutually independent clinical consequences of a common cause. The present study explored the possibility that anaemia results from temperature‐sensitive suicidal erythrocyte death or eryptosis. Eryptosis is characterised by cell shrinkage and cell membrane scrambling with phosphatidylserine (PS) exposure at the erythrocyte surface. It is triggered by increase in the cytosolic Ca 2+ activity on the one hand and by ceramide formation on the other. Material and methods Annexin V‐binding was utilised to disclose PS exposure, forward scatter to analyse cell volume, Fluo 3 fluorescence to estimate cytosolic Ca 2+ activity, binding of fluorescent antibodies to determine ceramide abundance and a luciferin/luciferase‐based assay to measure the cytosolic ATP concentration. Results Graded increases in temperature from 37 to 41 °C decreased the forward scatter and stimulated annexin V‐binding of human erythrocytes. The effect was accompanied by increased cytosolic Ca 2+ activity, decrease of the cellular ATP content and a moderate rise in ceramide formation. The effect of hyperthermia on annexin V‐binding was significantly blunted by the leukotriene receptor CysLT1 antagonist cinalukast (1 μM). Conclusions Hyperthermia stimulates Ca 2+ entry into erythrocytes leading to cell shrinkage and PS exposure. As PS‐exposing erythrocytes are rapidly cleared from circulating blood, the eryptosis during hyperthermia may cause anaemia.