Affiliations: Departamento de Ciencias Fisiológicas, Cátedra de Física Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Rosario, Argentina | Sección Inmunidad Celular, Departamento de Bioquímica Clínica, Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Rosario, Argentina | Hospital Provincial del Centenario, Rosario, Argentina
Note: [] Corresponding author: M.I. Spengler, Departamento de Ciencias Fisiológicas, Cátedra de Física Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Santa Fe 3100, CP 2000, Rosario, Argentina. Tel.: +54 341 4804558/Ext. 238; E-mail: isabelspengler@hotmail.com
Abstract: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune, chronic inflammatory, non-organ specific disease with an important morbimortality affecting several organs and systems. Oxidative stress is a well documented mechanism of red blood cells (RBC) mechanical impairment. Free radicals could produced, through lipid peroxidation, physical and chemical alterations in the cellular membrane properties modifying its composition, packing and lipid distribution on the membrane erythrocyte. The aim of the present work is to study the lipid peroxidation in the RBC membrane in SLE patients (n = 42) affecting so far the lipid membrane fluidity and erythrocyte deformability in comparison with healthy controls (n = 52). Malonildialdehyde (MDA) is a subrogate assesing lipidic peroxidation, rigidity index estimating erythrocyte deformability and the anisotropy coefficient estimating lipid membrane fluidity were used. Our results show that MDA values are increased, while erythrocyte deformability and membrane fluidity are significantly decreased in erythrocyte membrane from SLE patients in comparison with normal controls. The association of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) with membrane lipid fluidity and erythrocyte deformability confirms that the damage of membrane properties is produced by lipid peroxidation.
