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Erythrocyte Membrane Properties in Patients with Essential Hypertension

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Abstract

In spite of the extensive research efforts that have been conducted over the last decades, it is still very difficult to point out genetic determinants or environmental conditions responsible for the development of essential hypertension. We searched for differences in the RBC membrane skeleton structure and O2 membrane permeability between RBCs from patients with both essential arterial hypertension and hypercholesterolemia, from patients having only hypercholesterolemia and from healthy donors. The topography of RBCs and the content of various hemoglobin forms were detected using atomic force microscopy and Mössbauer spectroscopy, respectively. We found that the membrane skeleton of RBCs from healthy donors displayed a well-known honeycomb pattern, whereas in patients with essential hypertension and/or hypercholesterolemia, who had never received anti-hypertensive therapy, it displayed a corncob pattern. Hypertensive RBCs had an oval shape and the average lateral to longitudinal diameter ratio for the changed cells (about 70 %) did not exceed 0.80. We observed that after the incubation of RBCs under high nitrogen (low O2) pressure at room temperature and then their transfer into 85 K, a content of oxyHb (deoxyHbOH) already after 1 h reached a stable level of about 85 ± 3 % (15 ± 3 %) in hypertensives, whereas in healthy individuals it showed a decrease for deoxyHbOH and an increase for oxyHb, which stabilized at a level of about 81 ± 5 % and 19 ± 5 %, respectively, only after 9 h. Quantitative analysis of the Δ(oxyHb) change estimated as the difference between the oxyHb level measured after 9 and 2 h at 85 K under low N2 pressure (to slow down oxyHb formation) was significantly higher in normotensives than in hypertensive patients with or without hypercholesterolemia, 19.9 versus −4.2, p < 0.02. Our findings indicate an impaired oxygen release by Hb in RBCs of patients with hypertension under low oxygen pressure which if present in vivo may cause hypoxemia and, in turn, further increase of blood pressure.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge Krzysztof Matlak and Magdalena Szczerbowska-Boruchowska from the AGH-University of Science and Technology in Krakow (Poland), who designed and constructed the cryostat for Mössbauer spectroscopy and helped by some of the statistical analyses, respectively. The study was approved by the Bioethics Committee of Jagiellonian University (KBET/11/B/2009). This study was partially supported by the Grant of Polish Ministry of Science and Education N-N-402-471337, NCN (2011-2013) No 2011/01/N/NZ5/00919 and DS No 11.11.220.01 WFiIS AGH Kraków.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Physics and Applied Computer Science, Department of Medical Physics and Biophysics, AGH University of Science and Technology, al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059, Kraków, Poland

    Magdalena Kaczmarska & Kvetoslava Burda

  2. Collegium Medicum, Department of Internal Medicine and Gerontology, Jagiellonian University, ul. Sniadeckich 10, 31-351, Kraków, Poland

    Maria Fornal & Tomasz Grodzicki

  3. Division of Cardiology, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital, 1000 Tenth Ave, New York, NY, 10019, USA

    Franz H. Messerli

  4. Faculty of Physics and Applied Computer Science, Department of Solid State Physics, AGH University of Science and Technology, al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059, Kraków, Poland

    Jozef Korecki

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  1. Magdalena Kaczmarska
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  2. Maria Fornal
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Correspondence to Tomasz Grodzicki or Kvetoslava Burda.

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Kaczmarska, M., Fornal, M., Messerli, F.H. et al. Erythrocyte Membrane Properties in Patients with Essential Hypertension. Cell Biochem Biophys 67, 1089–1102 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12013-013-9613-9

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