Bivariate and multivariate analyses of the influence of blood variables of patients submitted to Roux-en-Y gastric bypass on the stability of erythrocyte membrane against the chaotropic action of ethanol.

The stability of the erythrocyte membrane, which is essential for the maintenance of cell functions, occurs in a critical region of fluidity, which depends largely on its composition and the composition and characteristics of the medium. As the composition of the erythrocyte membrane is influenced by several blood variables, the stability of the erythrocyte membrane must have relations with them. The present study aimed to evaluate, by bivariate and multivariate statistical analyses, the correlations and causal relationships between hematologic and biochemical variables and the stability of the erythrocyte membrane against the chaotropic action of ethanol. The validity of this type of analysis depends on the homogeneity of the population and on the variability of the studied parameters, conditions that can be filled by patients who undergo bariatric surgery by the technique of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass since they will suffer feeding restrictions that have great impact on their blood composition. Pathway analysis revealed that an increase in hemoglobin leads to decreased stability of the cell, probably through a process mediated by an increase in mean corpuscular volume. Furthermore, an increase in the mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) leads to an increase in erythrocyte membrane stability, probably because higher values of MCH are associated with smaller quantities of red blood cells and a larger contact area between the cell membrane and ethanol present in the medium.

Influence of glucose concentration on the membrane stability of human erythrocytes.

The action of glucose as an osmolyte in relation to blood cells is not well-characterized in the literature. This study aimed to study the influence of glucose concentration on the stability of red blood cells. The stability of erythrocytes was evaluated by the half-transition point obtained from the curves of lysis induced by glucose in the absence of salt or by increase in medium hypotonicity in the absence and the presence of different concentrations of glucose. In the presence of 0.9 g/dl NaCl, there was no hemolysis with increasing concentration of glucose from 0 to 10 g/dl. In the absence of NaCl, the dependence of hemolysis with the 0-10 g/dl glucose was described by a decreasing sigmoid, with fully lysed and fully protected cells being encountered in the presence of 0-2 and 4-10 g/dl glucose, respectively. The possible origin of such stabilization effect is discussed with base of what is known about osmostabilization of biological complexes and about the influence of glucose on the rheological properties of erythrocytes.