Background: Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are formed as a natural byproduct of the normal metabolism of oxygen and have important roles in cell signaling and homeostasis.
However, during times of oxidative stress, ROS levels can rise
dramatically. This may result in significant damage to cell structures.
In this work we are interested to show the effect of different ROS on
the morphology of fresh human RBCs.
Methods: The RBCs
were incubated with different reaction mixtures at room temperature and
exposed to cool fluorescent light (800 lux). Then, cells were isolated
and scanned by a scanning electron microscope.
Results:
When incubated with photoilluminated riboflavin, RBCs lost their
biconcave shape and adopted a spherocytes shape. The formation of
spherocytes is usually associated with spectrin deficiency. In the
presence of Cu(II) and riboflavin, RBCs appeared with spikes of
different sizes on their surface showing the formation of
“acanthocytes”, which is usually prevalent in abetalipoprotienemia.
Moreover, addition of NaN3 to riboflavin-Cu(II) system resulted in
completely damaged RBCs. Away from the above combinations, when RBCs
are incubated with riboflavin-aminophylline combination, they appeared
with spikes of equal lengths and sizes on their surface “echinocytes”,
which usually appear in different diseases like pyruvate kinase
deficiency and uremia.
Conclusion: Red blood cells
undergo different morphological changes when incubated in each of the
above combinations, most probably due to the formation of different ROS
and these ROS could be involved in different pathological consequences.