[Calcitonin, parathyroid hormones, calcium ion, cyclic 3,5-adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and erythrocyte...

Calcium ion is one of the factors which modulate erythrocyte deformability. It is known that calciotropic hormones such as calcitonin (CT) and parathyroid hormone (PTH) exert hypocalcemizing and hypercalcemizing effects, respectively. Their action is mediated, at the level of their target cells, through adenylcyclase activation with the production of cyclic 3,5-adenosinmonophosphate (cAMP). Modifications of transmembrane calcium fluxes have been described and were attributed to these hormones. Erythrocyte deformability has been evaluated by Dormandy method of red blood cell filtration in hypocalcemic patients affected by hypoparathyroidism, in patients with hypercalcemia due to malignancy or primary hyperparathyroidism and in normal age- and sex-matched subjects. Erythrocyte filtration values resulted to be significantly increased with respect to normal values in hypercalcemic patients and at the lower limits of normality in hypocalcemic subjects. Subsequently, acute studies were performed in normal volunteers in whom venous infusions of synthetic salmon calcitonin determined a significant reduction of erythrocyte filtration values, whereas venous infusions of the 1-34 synthetic human PTH fragment induced a significant increase in filtration values of red blood cells. An infusion of a cAMP analogue, dibutyryl-cAMP, determined a slight reduction of erythrocyte filtration values. The calciotropic hormones influence erythrocyte deformability through mechanisms that are yet to be clarified.