Maternal Smoking Highly Affects the Function, Membrane Integrity, and Rheological Properties in Fetal Red Blood Cells

Figure 1

Distribution of phenotypic variations in RBC-NS and RBC-S populations. Frequencies of echinocyte and teardrop phenotypes in RBC-NS ( cells from 19 individual samples) and RBC-S ( cells from 45 individual samples) populations (a). Frequency of echinocytes (b), after incubation of total blood with Cd²⁺ at 0.5 and 20 ng/μL concentration for 30 minutes at 37°C, RBC-NS ( cells) and RBC-S ( cells) investigated from 4 independent individuals in each group. Candida parapsilosis induced morphological changes in RBC-NS and RBC-S populations (c). Total blood samples were incubated for 20 hours at 37°C at 5% CO₂ with and without Candida parapsilosis (ATCC 22019) (10⁷ fungi/1 mL). After the ex vivo treatment, morphological changes were counted in RBC-NS ( cells from 19 independent samples) and RBC-S ( cells from 9 independent samples) on eosin-stained blood smears. Phenotypic variants were analyzed by the Advanced Cell Classifier software. Statistical significances were accepted at , , , and by one-way ANOVA using the Newman-Keuls multiple comparison test.

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