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LACTATE DEHYDROGENASE AND MECHANICAL TRAUMA OF ERYTHROCYTES
Author(s) -
Dale Jon,
Myhre Erik
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
journal of internal medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.625
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1365-2796
pISSN - 0954-6820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2796.1972.tb00025.x
Subject(s) - hemolysis , lactate dehydrogenase , red cell , lysis , red blood cell , heme , medicine , pigment , enzyme , biochemistry , chemistry , immunology , organic chemistry
Intravascular hemolysis develops in most patients after prosthetic heart valve replacement. The serum lactate dehydrogenase activity (LDH) is elevated in these patients; it has been shown that the enzyme level correlates fairly well with the degree of red blood cell destruction. The heme pigments and LDH content of erythrocytes have been determined in ten normals and ten patients with prosthetic heart valves by hemolysing blood diluted in plasma. The red blood cells from the same subject were exposed to a standardized mechanical trauma by rotating the blood in a cylindrical chamber. The LDH activity and heme pigment concentration were estimated in plasma before and after the rotation. The patients' red blood cells, subjected to the traumatic effect of the implanted valves, contained significantly less LDH than the normal erythrocytes. The in vitro experiments demonstrated that erythrocytes subjected to a mechanical trauma lost proportionally much more of their LDH activity than of their heme pigments. This indicates that when the pigment loss is due to cell lysis alone, the LDH is derived also from erythrocytes remaining in circulation.