Impairments in the Nanostructure of Red Blood Cell Membranes in Acute Blood Loss and Their Correction with Perfluorocarbon Emulsion

Abstract

Objective: to study impairments in the nanostructure of red blood cell membranes in acute blood loss and methods to correct the membrane structures with perfluorocarbon emulsion. Materials and methods. Experiments were carried out on Nembutal-anesthesized outbred rats. The model of a terminal state was 60-minute hypovolemic hypotension, followed by blood reinfusion and addition of perfluorane or Ringer’s solution. Images of fragments of the red blood cell membrane surface structure were obtained using a Femtoscan atomic force microscope (AFM). Twenty-seven experiments were performed; 186 cells were scanned on the AFM, which provided 720 images of three orders. Results. The paper shows the time course of changes in the index hi for different phases of an experiment. After 5-minute hypotension, h1 increased by more than 4.3 times and after 60-minute hypotension, this value decreased to 4.7 nm. The second-order height rose linearly at the stages: control — at 5 minutes — at 60 minutes of hypotension. At 60 minutes of hypotension, the first- and second-order heights were similar. At 5 minutes of hypotension, the third-order surface slightly changed — it increased by 1.5-fold. But at 60 minutes of hypotension, the changes in the fine structures of the membrane became great — h3 increased by 6.3 times. Conclusion. Blood loss has shown to induce impairments in the microstructure of red blood cell membranes at all levels of its organization: flick in the range of 600—1000 nm, spectrin matrix at 150—350 nm, proteins, band 3, at 30—80 nm. The per-fluorocarbon emulsion «Perftoran» exerts a pronounced modulatory effect on the red blood cell membrane nanostructure at all steps of its organization, by restoring the membrane nanostructure practically to the control level. Key words: blood loss, red blood cell membrane, nanostructure, atomic force microscopy.