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Updated: Jun 8, 2025

Measuring Deformability and Red Cell Heterogeneity in Blood by Ektacytometry
Published on: January 12, 2018
The Effect of the Acid-Base Imbalance on the Shape and Structure of Red Blood Cells
Snezhanna Kandrashina1, Ekaterina Sherstyukova1, Mikhail Shvedov1
1Federal Research and Clinical Center of Intensive Care Medicine and Rehabilitology, V.A. Negovsky Research Institute of General Reanimatology, 107031 Moscow, Russia.
Abstract:
Red blood cells respond to fluctuations in blood plasma pH by changing the rate of biochemical and physical processes that affect the specific functions of individual cells. This study aimed to analyze the effect of pH changes on red blood cell morphology and structure. The findings revealed that an increase or decrease in pH above or below the physiological level of pH 7.4 results in the transformation of discocytes into echinocytes and causes significant alterations in the membrane, including its roughness, cytoskeleton structure, and the cell's elastic modulus. Furthermore, the study shown a strong connection between critical acidosis and alkalosis with increased intracellular reactive oxygen species production.
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