Red Cell Life Span in Iron Deficiency Anaemia

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Abstract
SUMMARY: Ashby survival studies were performed with hypochromic red cells of six patients with iron deficiency anaemia in the circulation of normal subjects and with normal red cells in two patients with iron deficiency anaemia. Three of the anaemic donors were professional donors with anaemia due to excessive blood donations as the only abnormality.The life span of the hypochromic cells was decreased (46–85 days) whereas the normal cells survived normally or near normally in the patients with iron deficiency anaemia. Simultaneous 51Cr survival studies made with the hypochromic cells gave normal results in one instance and abnormal results in three. These findings suggest that hypochromic cells have a shortened life span due to an intracorpuscular defect.In a complementary study, it was observed that hypochromic cells showing a decreased survival in two normal individuals, had a normal survival in a splenectomized subject.