Morphological changes of erythrocytes in patients and carriers of Duchenne disease

The morphology of erythrocytes was investigated in 7 patients with Duchenne dystrophy and in 6 carriers of the same disease. Upon immediate fixation, the erythrocytes showed significant stomatocytosis which was observed in a scanning electron microscope. The mean value of the % of stomatocytes was significantly different in carriers compared to healthy people (P less than 0.01).