Changes in fluidity of erythrocyte membranes after storage of erythrocytes and regeneration of cellular ATP level

Membrane Lipid Fluidity and Filterability of Red Blood Cells from Adults and Newborns

“…The results of Table 1 indicate that the fluorescence anisotropies of both DPH and perylene increase ( p < 0.001) in outdated intact red cells. This increased DPH anisotropy with storage of intact cells and lack of difference in ghosts prepared from fresh and stored blood, contrasts with a decrease previously reported to occur with DPH in ghosts from outdated blood as compared with ghosts from fresh cells (14). The present data ( Fig.…”

“…Decreased polarization or anisotropy may indicate a more fluid membrane, whereas increased polarization or anisotropy may indicate a more rigid environment. Because the rotational motion of DPH in red cell membranes is hindered (1 [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20], no attempt has been made to calculate microviscosities. For fluorescence anisotropy measurements, a solution of 2 pM DPH (232.3 g/mol, Aldrich Chem.…”

“…However, fluorescence polarization studies of Kehry et al (1 2) revealed no difference in the motional freedom of perylene in ghost membranes prepared from outdated adult red cells, as compared with ghosts from fresh neonatal red cells. Other studies suggest that it may be inappropriate to conclude from the data of Kehry et al (12) that membrane lipid fluidity is the same for red cells from newborns and adults for the following two reasons: 1 ) the comparison was made with ghost membranes, yet DPH fluorescence polarization is increased in ghosts as compared with intact cells (13); and 2) the ghosts from adult cells were prepared from outdated blood, yet storage of blood reportedly alters membrane lipid fluidity (14). Our report describes experiments that reexamined membrane lipid fluidity of fresh intact red cells from human newborns and adults using the more sensitive fluorophore DPH.…”