Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, Vol 52, Issue 4 B217-B220, Copyright © 1997 by The Gerontological Society of America
Membrane modifications of red blood cells in Alzheimer's disease
D Sabolovic, M Roudier, M Boynard, C Pautou, C Sestier, B Fertil, D Geldwerth, J Roger, JN Pons, A Amri and A Halbreich
INSERM U313, CHU Pitie Salpetriere, Paris, France.
Red blood cells (RBC) from 24 Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients, 18 age-
and sex-matched nondemented (ND) patients, hospitalized in the same
facility for orthopedic problems, and 18 healthy volunteers aged 30-52
years were studied in order to gain insight into the nature of RBC membrane
modifications in AD. Significant differences were found between RBC from AD
and ND patients or young controls respectively for annexin V-binding (45.5
+/- 18.0% vs 27.1 +/- 14.7 and 2.7 +/- 1.9, p = .003), fraction of glycerol
resistant cells (30.8 +/- 11.1% vs 19.6 +/- 6.4 and 10.2 +/- 3.1, p =
.026), cell electrophoretic mobility in polymer (1.028 +/- 0.022 microns
sec-1 V-1 cm vs 1.046 +/- 0.022 and 1.053 +/- 0.021, p = .02) and only
limited significance for the filterability (1.46 +/- 0.12 msec vs 1.58 +/-
0.11 and 1.54 +/- 0.11, p = 0.1). A logistic analysis, using simultaneously
several features as independent variables, suggested the combined use of
annexinV- binding, glycerol resistance, and cell filterability which
allowed the assignment of 95% of patients from this cohort to the right
group. A prospective analysis of a larger cohort is required for the
estimation of the diagnostic value of this test battery. In addition, the
high level of annexin binding is characteristic of a disruption of the
phospholipid asymmetry in aged or damaged cells, while the high glycerol
resistance combined with low electrophoretic mobility an rigidity
characterize young RBC, thus indicating an enhanced turnover of RBC in
Alzheimer's disease.
