Calcium/protein kinase C signaling mechanisms in shear-induced mechanical responses of red blood cells

Red blood cell (RBC) deformability has vital importance for microcirculation in the body, as RBCs travel in narrow capillaries under shear stress. Deformability can be defined as a remarkable cell ability to change shape in response to an external force which allows the cell to pass through the narr...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Microvascular research 2021-05, Vol.135, p.104124-104124, Article 104124
Main Authors: Ugurel, Elif, Kisakurek, Zeynep Busra, Aksu, Yasemin, Goksel, Evrim, Cilek, Neslihan, Yalcin, Ozlem
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Calcium homeostasis
Mechanical responses
Protein kinase C signaling
Red blood cells
Shear stress
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Red blood cell (RBC) deformability has vital importance for microcirculation in the body, as RBCs travel in narrow capillaries under shear stress. Deformability can be defined as a remarkable cell ability to change shape in response to an external force which allows the cell to pass through the narrowest blood capillaries. Previous studies showed that RBC deformability could be regulated by Ca2+/protein kinase C (PKC) signaling mechanisms due to the phosphorylative changes in RBC membrane proteins by kinases and phosphatases. We investigated the roles of Ca2+/PKC signaling pathway on RBC mechanical responses and impaired RBC deformability under continuous shear stress (SS). A protein kinase C inhibitor Chelerythrine, a tyrosine phosphatase inhibitor Calpeptin, and a calcium channel blocker Verapamil were applied into human blood samples in 1 micromolar concentration. Samples with drugs were treated with or without 3 mM Ca2+. A shear stress at 5 Pa level was applied to each sample continuously for 300 s. RBC deformability was measured by a laser-assisted optical rotational cell analyzer (LORRCA) and was calculated as the change in elongation index (EI) of RBC upon a range of shear stress (SS, 0.3–50 Pa). RBC mechanical stress responses were evaluated before and after continuous SS through the parameterization of EI-SS curves. The drug administrations did not produce any significant alterations in RBC mechanical responses when they were applied alone. However, the application of the drugs together with Ca2+ substantially increased RBC deformability compared to calcium alone. Verapamil significantly improved Ca2+-induced impairments of deformability both before and after 5 Pa SS exposure (p 
ISSN:0026-2862
1095-9319
DOI:10.1016/j.mvr.2020.104124