Prostacyclin increases filterability of normal and rigidified human red blood cellsin vitro

Abstract

Red blood cell (RBC) deformability is a critical determinant of capillary flow. In a previous study we found decreased deformability (filterability) of red cells of patients with clinical symptoms of peripheral ischaemia associated with systemic sclerosis and prostacyclin (PGI₂) infusion had beneficial effect on both the clinical symptoms and red cell filterability. The present study was therefore designed to investigate the effect of PGI₂ on RBC deformabilityin vitro, by measuring the filterability of RBCs suspended in saline. The results demonstrate that PGI₂ increases filterabillty of normal RBCs and significantly improves the impaired deformability of cells due to storage or calcium influx.