Open AccessMembrane Remodelling and Vesicle Formation During Ageing of Human Red Blood Cells
Author(s) -
Annarita Ciana,
Cesare Achilli,
Anjali Gaur,
Giampaolo Minetti
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
cellular physiology and biochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.486
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1421-9778
pISSN - 1015-8987
DOI - 10.1159/000478768
Subject(s) - spectrin , vesicle , membrane , red blood cell , chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , lipid bilayer , in vitro , biophysics , bilayer , lipid raft , membrane protein , in vivo , cell , biology , biochemistry , cytoskeleton
A high surface-to-volume ratio and a spectrin membrane-skeleton (MS) confer to the mammalian red blood cells (RBCs) their characteristic deformability, mechanical strength and structural stability. During their 120 days of circulatory life in humans, RBCs decrease in size, while remaining biconcave disks, owing to a coordinated decrease in membrane surface area and cell water. It is generally believed that part of the membrane is lost with the shedding of spectrin-free vesicles of the same type that can be obtained in vitro by different treatments. If this were true, an excess of MS would arise in old RBCs, with respect to the lipid bilayer. Aim of this paper was to investigate this aspect.