Stabilization of the shape of sickled cells by calcium and A23187
MR Clark, AC Greenquist and SB Shohet
Evaluation of the role of calcium in irreversible sickling has been
approached by treating sickled cells with calcium and the ionophore A23187.
A calcium-dependent stabilization of the sickled cell shape was observed
after reoxygenation of cells in the presence of ionophore. At low calcium
concentrations, this retention of sickled shape was maintained for periods
up to 1 hr. However, the morphology of the oxygen-stable sickled cells was
like that of deoxygenated sickle cells and significantly different from the
characteristic morphology of native irreversibly sickled cells (ISCs).
Because the stabilized cells did not fulfill the morphological criterion
for ISCs, the shape- stabilizing effect of calcium in this system did not
provide additional support for the hypothesis that calcium accumulation was
the determining factor in ISC generation.
Volume 48,
Issue 6,
pp. 899-909,
12/01/1976
Copyright © 1976 by The American Society of Hematology
