Biomechanical properties of red blood cells in health and disease towards
microfluidics |
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| Authors: | Giovanna Tomaiuolo |
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| Institution: | Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica, dei Materiali e della Produzione Industriale, Università di Napoli Federico II, Piazzale Tecchio 80, Napoli 80125, Italy, and CEINGE Biotecnologie Avanzate, Via Gaetano Salvatore 486, Napoli 80145, Italy |
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| Abstract: | Red blood cells (RBCs) possess a unique capacity for undergoing cellular deformation to navigate
across various human microcirculation vessels, enabling them to pass through capillaries that are
smaller than their diameter and to carry out their role as gas carriers between blood and tissues.
Since there is growing evidence that red blood cell deformability is impaired in some pathological
conditions, measurement of RBC deformability has been the focus of numerous studies over the past
decades. Nevertheless, reports on healthy and pathological RBCs are currently limited and, in many
cases, are not expressed in terms of well-defined cell membrane parameters such as elasticity and
viscosity. Hence, it is often difficult to integrate these results into the basic understanding of
RBC behaviour, as well as into clinical applications. The aim of this review is to summarize
currently available reports on RBC deformability and to highlight its association with various human
diseases such as hereditary disorders (e.g., spherocytosis, elliptocytosis, ovalocytosis, and
stomatocytosis), metabolic disorders (e.g., diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, obesity), adenosine
triphosphate-induced membrane changes, oxidative stress, and paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria.
Microfluidic techniques have been identified as the key to develop state-of-the-art dynamic
experimental models for elucidating the significance of RBC membrane alterations in pathological
conditions and the role that such alterations play in the microvasculature flow dynamics. |
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