Abstract
Red blood cell (RBC) deformability is an important determinant of the microcirculation. It is influenced by various hematological parameters but also by nitric oxide (NO) which is produced in RBC from L-arginine by RBC-NO synthase. Longitudinal studies on blood profile, deformability at rest and NO levels but also differences between males and females (±hormonal contraception; HC) are less known so far. The study thus aimed to investigate RBC deformability, RBC NO species (nitrite, RxNO), RBC L-arginine concentration and basal blood parameters in males and females (±HC) as a function of time. RBC deformability was measured at rest once per week and the remaining parameters were measured once per month, respectively. A second experiment aimed to daily measure RBC deformability and 17β-estradiol in Female ± HC during a whole menstruation cycle to investigate a possible relation of the two parameters. Measured parameters showed low week-to-week variation and remained constant during study period. However, RBC deformability increased in Female + HC during study period possibly because of increasing training volume of the participants. Overall, results indicate gender differences in hematological parameters with higher RBC parameters (RBC count, hematocrit, hemoglobin concentration) in males compared to females. Differences were also observed between the female groups with Females - HC showing lower number of RBC but higher MCV and hematocrit compared to Females + HC. RBC deformability was highest in Females - HC which might be related to permanent higher estradiol levels and/or higher RBC NO levels because RBC nitrite and RBC RxNO concentrations were also highest in Females-HC. Results of the second experiment also suggest higher RBC deformability in Female - HC because of higher estradiol concentrations. L-arginine levels known to be related to RBC NO production were comparable in all groups. In conclusion, hematological, hemorheological and NO related parameters show gender differences. In particular, RBC deformability is affected by training volume and RBC estradiol concentrations. The results add new information on the complex regulation of RBC function which might help to better understand the role of RBC in the microcirculation.
Highlights
Red blood cell deformability describes the ability of the cells to reversibly change their shape in response to applied forces
red blood cells (RBC)-NO synthase (RBC-NOS) activation state depends on the phosphorylation of RBC-NOS serine 1177 residue which is related to upstream activation of the phosphatidylinositol 3 (PI3)-kinase/Akt kinase pathway (Suhr et al, 2012)
White blood cell (WBC) count was highest in Female + hormonal contraceptives (HC) (Figure 2C) and summarized data indicate significant differences between Female + HC and Female − HC (p < 0.05), between Female + HC and Male (p < 0.005) and between Female − HC and Male (p < 0.05; Figure 2D)
Summary
Red blood cell deformability describes the ability of the cells to reversibly change their shape in response to applied forces. This relevant characteristic enables the passage of RBC through blood vessels with diameters smaller than their own and the supply of oxygen and nutrient to the surroundings (Mohandas and Chasis, 1993). It was shown that RBC-NOS produced NO leads to S-nitrosylation of cytoskeletal spectrins which, the exact mechanism remains to be investigated, positively affects RBC deformability (Grau et al, 2013). Changes in RBC-NOS activation and concomitant NO levels were related to changes in deformability (Grau et al, 2013)
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