S. Kljuchnikov et al., HEMOLYSIS IN ADULT AND NEONATAL ERYTHROCYTES CAUSED BY AUTOXIDATION OF LIPID EMULSION (INTRALIPID), Acta paediatrica, 82(4), 1993, pp. 348-351
Lipid emulsion (Intralipid) causes free radical-mediated damage to hum
an cells in vitro. Incubation with 0.44% Intralipid for 17 h caused 40
.3 +/- 3.8% haemolysis in adult human erythrocytes and 26.5 +/- 8.1% i
n erythrocytes from term newborns (p = 0.0001). In adult erythrocytes
mean corpuscular volume increased 68.7 +/- 8.2% and in newborn erythro
cytes 54.8 +/- 10.4% (p = 0.0012). Initial concentrations of reduced g
lutathione in adult and newborn erythrocytes were 65.1 +/- 2.5 and 62.
1 +/- 4.0 mg/dl, respectively (ns); after incubation, glutathione conc
entrations were 21.0 +/- 4.0 and in 25.7 +/- 5.2 mg/dl in adult and ne
wborn erythrocytes, respectively (p = 0.0004). After incubation the co
ncentrations of thiobarbituric acid reactive material and conjugated d
ienes in newborn erythrocytes (2.8 +/- 0.2 muM and 0.223 +/- 0.019 OD
233, respectively) were higher than those of adult erythrocytes (2.1 /- 0.4 muM and 0.138 +/- 0.012 OD 233) (p = 0.0001). In both adult and
newborn erythrocytes, the effects of Intralipid were significantly in
hibited by 0.6 mM desferoxamine or 8 mM sodium etidronate. Despite hig
her susceptibility to lipid peroxidation of the cell membrane, newborn
erythrocytes are more resistant than adult erythrocytes to free radic
al-mediated effects such as depletion of intracellular glutathione, ce
ll swelling and haemolysis.