Morphology of Erythrocytes from Vitamin E-deficient Lead-poisoned Rats

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Weanling male rats were fed either a vitamin E-deficient Torula yeast diet fortified with selenium or the same diet supplemented with 100 ppm vitamin E. Of rats fed each diet, one group received 250 ppm lead in the drinking water, whereas another group received no lead. After 3 months, red cell filterability was measured and the red cell suspensions were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Red blood cells from vitamin E-supplemented non-poisoned or lead-poisoned rats were filterable even after 6 hours of incubation in buffered saline. SEM revealed that these cells were largely echinocytes. Red cells from vitamin E-deficient rats gradually lost their filterability after incubation in vitro and lead poisoning accelerated this decline. After 6 hours of incubation, red cells from both vitamin E-deficient non-poisoned and vitamin E-deficient lead-poisoned rats were not filterable. SEM showed that these cells were mainly spherocytes or spherostomatocytes. Red cells from vitamin E-supplemented non-poisoned rats could be maintained as discocytes by addition of bovine serum albumin (BSA) to the incubation medium, but BSA had no effect on the spherocytic shape change of cells from vitamin E-deficient lead-poisoned rats. BSA tended to decrease slightly the filterability of red cells from vitamin E-deficient rats, poisoned with lead or not. These observations are consistent with the hypothesis that spherocytes develop more rapidly in E-deficient lead-poisoned than in E-supplemented non-poisoned rats and help explain the splenomegaly, increased erythrocyte mechanical fragility, and decreased red cell filterability observed in such rats.