The Shape of Human Red Blood Cells Suspended in Autologous Plasma and Serum.

Abstract in brief

• The study investigates how the shape of human red blood cells (RBCs) suspended in their own plasma or serum varies, especially focusing on the ratio of the cell's dimple region to its rim (THR), and finds that the THR values range around 0.55 to 0.60, which differs from previous studies that often used salt solutions with albumin.
• By analyzing RBCs from eight donors, the researchers observed that the THR shows a wide variation within individual samples and correlates with the membrane’s spontaneous curvature; also, the shape (aspect ratio) of RBCs varies across samples, with oval cells showing a thicker rim along the major axis.
• The findings suggest that RBC membrane remodeling occurs in about an hour and that considering this dynamic behavior in models could better explain how RBCs actually behave, proposing a more flexible reference shape for the cell membrane than the traditionally assumed stress-free configuration.