title: Aging of human erythrocytes: the role of membrane perturbations induced by in vitro ATP-depletion.
abstract: The in vitro metabolic depletion of the erythrocytes has been often utilized to mimic the oxidative stress responsible of their in vivo senescence process. The present study is focused to detect the extent to which the modifications of the whole cell and/or of its membrane, consequent to in vitro ATP-depletion, could trigger a mechanism similar to that verified during in vivo aging. From our data it appears that the shape changes and the increased osmotic fragility could be related to physico-chemical alterations that take place at membrane level. Main alterations concern the significant decrease of negative charges of membrane surface, as evidenced by fluorescence intensity enhancement of membrane-associated ANS, and of the increase of fluidity in the lipid/protein membrane region, suggesting a close analogy with the progressive in vivo senescence of the RBC. Furthermore, the ATP-depletion erythrocyte can efficiently remove exogenous hydrogen peroxide differently from old RBC that showed, as well reported, a severe decrease of enzymic protection against oxidative insult.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Biomedical Sciences and Technology and Biometry, School of Medicine, University of L'Aquila, Italy.
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Tozzi-Ciancarelli
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Di Massimo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mascioli
mesh_terms: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000097:blood*; D004905:Erythrocyte Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D004910:Erythrocyte Membrane / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D015227:Lipid Peroxidation / Q000502:physiology; D008563:Membrane Lipids / Q000097:blood; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010587:Phagocytosis / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D008563:Membrane Lipids; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; D010100:Oxygen