No abstract

Erythrocytes in men and women were characterized by similar distribution of cell volumes and their mean values, but considerably differed in the correlations of volumetric parameters with cell count, hematocrit, and hemoglobin content. The factorial structure of the correlations showed sex-related specificity. These data suggest that male and female erythrocytes are qualitatively different. Key Words: erythrocytes; functional characteristics; volume; correlation; sex-related specificityCharacteristics of human blood erythrocytes are known to be sex-specific. Men and women differ in their erythrocyte concentration, hemoglobin (Hb) content, cell size [4], some biochemical indices [2], and electrophoretic mobility [5]. Given the fact that erythrocyte population is heterogenous and consists of cells with different properties, it remains unclear whether the difference in average indices can be explained by qualitative specificity of male and female erythrocytes or just by a different subpopulation structure. The problem of the sex-related specificity of erythrocytes has never been considered in this way, and this work was designed to analyze it by studying the correlations between the main functional characteristics of these cells in men and women. MATERIALS AND METHODSBlood samples from healthy men (n=14) and women (n=24) aged 35-50 years were analyzed with a Sysmex NE-1500 analyzer. The following parameters were determined: erythrocyte count, Hb, hematocrit, mean Hb content per erythrocyte, mean erythrocyte volume.Institute of Physiology of St. Petersburg State University; Bashkiriya State University, Ufa; Institute of Evolutional Physiology and Biochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg Standard deviation, coefficients of variation, asymmetry (As), and excess (Ex) were calculated from the volume distribution histograms. Student's t test was used to evaluate the difference between the mean values. Correlation analysis was performed using "Statistica" software.

In intact rats electrokinetic characteristics of erythrocytes weakly depended on the intensity of erythropoiesis. This dependence became significant when the degree of erythropoiesis approached the upper limit of variations. Electrophoretic mobility of erythrocytes progressively decreased with increasing blood reticulocyte count. Subpopulations of erythrocytes with low mobility in electric field accumulated in the blood. Our results indicate that erythrocytes whose electrokinetic potential is similar to the mean mobility of circulating cells migrate from the bone marrow into the circulation under normal conditions.