Human Red Blood Cell’s Amazing Flexibility.

A team of UCSD researchers discovered the secret behind human red cells flexibility. In their research they stated that the human red blood cell membrane skeleton is a network of roughly 33,000 protein hexagons that looks like a microscopic geodesic dome. Each hexagon vertex is joined with flexible lines to a central maypole-like proto-filament, giving it the capability to curl and contort without breaking, which also helps to squeeze out the oxygen into the tissues. The more a red blood cell is mechanically deformed, the more likely its individual proto-filaments will rotate left and right like which would speed up the movement of oxygen from one side of the membrane to the other. The shape of red blood cells is also the most favorable for maximizing surface area (for diffusion) without sacrificing volume (for payload). If they were inflexible disks, they would get trapped, starving tissues of oxygen and causing death.

I found this article interesting and thought provoking as very little was known on how the RBC’s behave once they deform and it was related to my field biomedical engineering.


http://www.jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/news_events/releases/release.sfe?id=484