Human red blood cell aging: correlative changes in surface charge and cell properties

Abstract

Red blood cells (RBCs) during microcirculation, aging and storage, lose N-acetylneuraminic acid (NANA) and other biomaterials thereby altering cell structures, some properties and functions. Such cell damage very likely underlies the serious adverse effects of blood transfusion. However, a controversy has remained since 1961–1977 as to whether with aging, the RBCs, suffering loss of NANA, do have a decreased charge density. Any correlation between the changes in the cell properties with cell aging is also not clear. Therefore, to remove the ambiguity and uncertainty, we carried out multiparameteric studies on Percoll fractions of blood of 38 volunteers (lightest-young-Y-RBCs, densest-old-O-RBCs, two middle fractions).We found that there were striking differences between the properties of Y-RBCs and O-RBCs. The ζ-potential of Y-RBCs decreased gradually with aging. Studies in parallel on RBC fractions incubated with both positively charged quantum dots and Sambucus Nigra-fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) along with their ζ-potentials provide for the first time direct visual evidence about the lesser amount of charge density and NANA on O-RBCs, and a collinear decrease in their respective ζ-potentials. Close correlation was found between the surface charge on an aging RBC and its structure and functions, from the cell morphology, the membrane deformability to the intracellular Hb structure and oxidation ability. This quantitative approach not only clarifies the picture but also has implications in biology and medicine.

Raman Spectroscopy of Blood and Blood Components

“…The authors also suggested that when hemoglobin is bound to the inside of the membrane, ''the reactive oxygen species generated in autoxidation are not efficiently neutralized by the cellular antioxidant enzymes''. 87 A more recent (2014) study used another variant of Raman spectroscopy (2D Raman correlation spectroscopy) to investigate age-related disintegration of RBCs. The asynchronous spectra in the data set (which represent the overall differences in the time behavior) led the authors to suggest that the heme groups separate themselves from the globin proteins, and the synchronous spectra (which represent the similarities in the time behavior) suggested that the globin proteins break down into individual amino acids.…”

“…Raman spectroscopy has been used, for example, to study the mechanisms associated with RBC ageing. 86,87 In these studies, cells were separated by Percoll fractionation (where the lightest 25% were said to be the youngest and the heaviest/densest RBCs were said to be the oldest) and subjected to line mapping analysis (514.2 nm excitation). The intensity of the 1358 cm À1 band (assigned in a previous work to the symmetric half-ring stretch of pyrrole) across the samples suggested that hemoglobin was less uniformly distributed in older RBCs.…”

Association between body size and selected hematological parameters in men and women aged 45 and above from a hospitalized population of older adults: an insight from the Polish Longitudinal Study of Aging (1960–2000)

“…The red blood cells of normal size and shape are called normocytes. They show the form of small (around 7.5 μm in diameter, range 6.5-8.5 μm), flattened, biconcave disks whose centers are thinner that their edges since they are approximately 2.5 μm thick at the rim and only 0.8-1.0 μm thick in the middle (Huang et al 2011;Mescher 2013). RBCs that are smaller and larger than normocytes are called microcytes and macrocytes, respectively.…”

“…Since mature red blood cells do not have nuclei, they are unable to replenish proteins or repair cellular damage. Therefore, they can survive in the circulation for about 100-120 days and then after covering roughly 240 km of their journey through the vasculature, they must be phagocytized by macrophages in the liver and spleen; the average daily rate of loss of RBCs is 2.08 × 10 11 (Nozaki et al 1995;Dean 2005;Adamson 2008;Bosman et al 2008;Huang et al 2011;Jelkmann 2012). In the case of some chronic diseases, including sickle-cell disease, spherocytic anemia, thalassemia, chronic renal failure, and hypersplenism, the lifespan of these cells can be markedly reduced.…”

Age-related changes in erythrocyte membrane sulfhydryl groups and β-D-glucuronidase activity

“…Increased oxidative stress has been linked to a shortening of life span [2]. Several studies report alterations in the erythrocyte membrane during human aging [4,5].…”