[Progression of the peripheral blood profile in phenylhydrazine-induced hemolytic anemia]

Male rabbits were made anemic by subcutaneous injections of 3 mg/Kg body weight of phenylhydrazine (PHZ) for the duration of three days. Blood samples were collected prior to the experiment, on the 2nd and 5th day from the end of the treatment. Hematocrit, reticulocyte count, MCV, osmotic resistance, RBC volume distribution curve and morphological analysis were performed on each sample in order to obtain a picture of the progressive changes of the parameters following the PHZ administration. Hematocrit values changed from 49 to 27%, whereas the reticulocytosis increased from 0.6 to 73%. A significant elevation of MCV was detected and the cell volume distribution curve, which presented the typical bell-shape profile in the normal animals became bimodal on the 5th day. The osmotic resistance of RBC of anemic animals, showed a marked deviation from the normal pattern. In fact initial haemolysis started at 0.75-0.70% NaCl concentration in the 5th day samples, while it was between 0.55-0.50% before the PHZ treatment. Finally, morphological analysis revealed a progressive increase of RBC with Heinz bodies, of macro-megalocytes and of immature erythroblasts thus indicating that the cell population, produced during recovery from PHZ induced anemia, is widely heterogeneous.