Red Blood Cell Deformability, Vasoactive Mediators, and Adhesion.
Abstract
Healthy red blood cells (RBCs) deform readily in response to shear stress in the circulation,
facilitating their efficient passage through capillaries. RBCs also export vasoactive
mediators in response to deformation and other physiological and pathological stimuli.
Deoxygenation of RBC hemoglobin leads to the export of vasodilator and antiadhesive
S-nitrosothiols (SNOs) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in parallel with oxygen transport
in the respiratory cycle. Together, these mediated responses to shear stress and oxygen
offloading promote the efficient flow of blood cells and in turn optimize oxygen delivery.
In diseases including sickle cell anemia and conditions including conventional blood
banking, these adaptive functions may be compromised as a result, for example, of
limited RBC deformability, impaired mediator formation, or dysfunctional mediator
export. Ongoing work, including single cell approaches, is examining relevant mechanisms
and remedies in health and disease.
Type
Journal articleSubject
ATPS-nitrosothiols
microcirculation
nitric oxide
respiratory
sepsis
sickle cell anemia
transfusion — H/A
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/22472Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.3389/fphys.2019.01417Publication Info
McMahon, Timothy J (2019). Red Blood Cell Deformability, Vasoactive Mediators, and Adhesion. Frontiers in physiology, 10. pp. 1417. 10.3389/fphys.2019.01417. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/22472.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Timothy Joseph McMahon
Professor of Medicine
The McMahon Lab at Duke University and Durham VA Medical Center is investigating novel
roles of the red blood cell (RBC) in the circulation. The regulated release of the
vasodilator SNO (a form of NO, nitric oxide) by RBCs within the respiratory cycle
in mammals optimizes nutrient delivery at multiple levels, especially in the lung
(gas exchange) and the peripheral microcirculation (O2 transport to tissues). Deficiency
of RBC SNO bioactivity (as in human RBCs banked for transfusion),

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