Differences between cation-osmotic hemolysis and filterability in exaprolol- and glutaraldehyde-treated human red blood cells

The changes in human red blood cell microrheology in different glutaraldehy de (3.0 and 5.0 x 10(-6) mol.l(-1)) and exaprolol (2.5 and 5.0 x 10(-4) mol .l(-1)) concentrations were studied, The method of millipore filtration was compared with the method of cation-osmotic hemolysis. Both drugs prolonged the filtration time. Cation-osmotic hemolysis in glutaraldehyde-treated ce lls was significantly lower in comparison with the control group. On the ot her hand, there was a significant increase in cation-osmotic hemolysis in e xaprolol-treated cells. Besides cation-osmotic hemolysis and filterability of erythrocytes, we evaluated the medium cell volume (MCV) and the medium c ell hemoglobin concentration (MCHC). No changes in MCV and MCHC in glutaral dehyde-treated cells were observed. However, the MCV was significantly lowe r and the MCHC was significantly higher in exaprolol-treated cells. In conc lusion, we suggest that the method of cation-osmotic hemolysis is more sens itive than the filtration method for determination of red blood cell micror heology.