Biophysical,morphological and rheological modifications of the erythrocyte during storage: A review

An enormous amount of work has been performed on the metabolic properties of the red blood cell during its storage in blood bank conditions, but the membrane structure changes (both at the molecular and at the macroscopic level) and the rheological perturbations of stored erythrocytes have been comparatively less well studied. In the last decade, the progress in our understanding of the organization and the properties of the red blood cell membrane has been considerable. It is thus interesting to review the work concerning the biophysical aspects of blood storage in the light of these recent findings. In a first part, recent advances about the normal erythrocyte are summarized, emphasizing membrane structure and rheological properties. The reviewed literature is essentially limited to 1979–1981. The second part deals with the biological and rheological pertubations caused by storage of the blood in the liquid state. Aspects of storage in the frozen state have been excluded from this review. In the third and last part the possible causes of the observed modifications are analyzed from a molecular point a view, and the advantages of recent anticoagulant and preservative solutions are indicated.