Rheological evaluation of pathological, perturbed normal and reconstituted red cell membranes

Whole red cell deformability was studied by ektacytometry. Reduced shear induced red cell elongation was observed in some hemolytic disorders, chiefly in those where spherocytes occur. With the same technique, red cell membrane deformability and stability were studied following mild proteolytic digestion with trypsin. Reconstitution with spectrin restored in part the membrane elasticity while band 4.1-protein exerted stabilizing effect on the perturbed membrane.