Membrane elasticity of erythrocytes from normal and dystrophic mice

AbstractThe membrane deformability of erythrocytes from normal and dystrophic mice was determined using a flow channel technique whereby erythrocytes attached to the floor of a parallel plate channel were deformed by fluid shear forces. A nonlinear stress‐strain experimental behavior was observed for both populations of erythrocytes which was best described with a polynominal expression: τS = aεx + [bεx3/(2εx + 1)]. A comprehensive statistical analysis of the data indicated that a large percentage of the variance of the data was due to the experimental design. Furthermore, the 2 populations of cells were different in terms of the strain‐stress relationship which best fitted the data, i.e., εx = ατs + βτs2 + γτs3. Up to a shear stress of 5.5 dyn/cm2, where 95% of the data points were found, the dystrophic erythrocytes were slightly but significantly more deformable than the normal erythrocytes.

Membrane elasticity of erythrocytes from normal and dystrophic mice Journal Articles