Shape control in the human red cell
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Updated: Aug 30, 2026

Controlled Microfluidic Environment for Dynamic Investigation of Red Blood Cell Aggregation
Published on: June 4, 2015
Abstract:
When the human red cell consumes its ATP, the cell loses its discoid character in favour of a spiculated and eventually a spherical form. This discocyte-echinocyte transformation parallels both degradation of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate and phosphatidic acid but not dephosphorylation of cytoskeletal proteins. Dephosphorylation of both spectrin and band 3 lags behind metabolic crenation. Exogenous vanadate accelerates both shape changes and lipid dephosphorylation in a parallel manner during metabolic depletion. In contrast to its effect on lipids, vanadate reduces the rate of protein dephosphorylation. These observations strongly support a shape control mechanism in the red cell, based on phosphoinositide metabolism and compatible with a bilayer-couple model.
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