Protection of the biconcave profile of human erythrocytes against osmotic damage by ultraviolet-A irradiation through membrane-cytoskeleton enhancement.

To perform various physiological functions, erythrocytes possess a unique biconcave shape provided by a special architecture of the membrane-skeleton system. In the present work, we use a simple irradiation method to treat human erythrocytes with 365 nm ultraviolet-A (UVA) light at the single-cell level in vitro. Depending on the irradiation dose, UVA show protection of the biconcave profile against the detrimental action of distilled water. This protective effect can also be confirmed for saponin that damages the membrane-skeleton by vesiculation and pore formation. Interestingly, at two irradiation doses of UVA pretreatment, erythrocytes still seem to exhibit cell viability as tested by trypan blue assay even if distilled water or saponin is added. The oxidants hydrogen peroxide and cumene hydroperoxide partly simulate the protective effects. Taken together, these results demonstrate that 365 nm UVA irradiation can protect the biconcave profile of human erythrocytes through membrane-skeleton enhancement associated with a production of oxidants.

[Micro-column gel indirect anti-globulin technique for screening and identification of irregular antibody].

The purpose of this study was to design an antibody screening method based on the micro-column gel indirect anti-globulin technique (MGIAT), using pooled cells and plasma, by comparison with the conventional indirect anti-globulin technique (CIAT) combined with a two-stage papain technique, and to explore the feasibility of the use of plasma instead of serum as test material. The samples of blood recipients in our hospital were screened for irregular antibody using pooled test cells. Screening of the antibodies was identified both by MGIAT and CIAT combined papain technique respectively. The results showed that the irregular erythrocyte antibodies were detected in 20 cases from 5,000 recipients screened by MGIAT, using pooled cells, the positive rate was 0.4%. The specificity of 20 cases of irregular antibodies was as follows: 2 cases of anti-D, 8 cases of anti-E, 1 cases of anti-C, 2 cases of anti-c, 2 cases of anti-Mi(a), 2 cases of anti-Jk(a), 1 case of anti-Le(a) and 2 cases of anti-Fy(a). Antibody was detected from 19 cases using CIAT. Anti-Le(a) was detected with adding complement from Le(a-b-) person. Only 13 cases antibody were found by papain technique. It was concluded that irregular antibody screening by MGIAT using pooled cells can take place of the CIAT combining with papain technique in clinical application. Plasma is superior to serum in antibody screening test.