Effect of Cell Age on the Filterability of Erythrocytes from Vitamin E-deficient Lead-poisoned Rats

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Abstract
Weanling male rats were fed, for 3 months, either a vitamin E-deficient Torula yeast diet or the same diet supplemented with 100 ppm vitamin E. Of rats fed each diet, one group received 1,000 ppm lead in the drinking water; another group received no lead. Red blood cells were fractionated according to their age (density) by centrifugation in an angle-head rotor at 30°. There was no difference in the filterability of young, old, or unfractionated erythrocytes from vitamin E-supplemented rats, poisoned with lead or not. However, old red cells from vitamin E-deficient rats were much less filterable after incubation in vitro than young cells and lead poisoning exaggerated this difference. The decrease in filterability of various age-fractionated erythrocytes correlated roughly with the extent of red cell lipid peroxidation. In experiments with non-poisoned rats, incubation of red cells from E-supplemented rats with hydrogen peroxide caused small but significant declines in the filterability of old versus young erythrocytes. On the other hand, old red cells from vitamin E-deficient rats were much more sensitive to the effects of hydrogen peroxide than young cells. Comparison of the filtration behavior of young, “middle-aged,” and old red cells from vitamin E-deficient rats indicated that the old red cells accounted for most of the decrease in filterability observed in unfractionated blood samples from such rats. These results demonstrate that a particular sub-population of red cells, i.e., the senescent cells, is largely responsible for the decreased filterability characteristic of erythrocytes from vitamin E-deficient rats.