Alteration of the erythrocyte membrane skeletal ultrastructure in hereditary spherocytosis, hereditary elliptocytosis, and pyropoikilocytosis

Abstract excerpt

The membrane skeleton of normal erythrocytes is largely organized into a hexagonal lattice of junctional complexes (JC) crosslinked by spectrin tetramers, and occasional double tetramers and hexamers. To explore possible skeletal alterations in hereditary spherocytosis (HS), elliptocytosis (HE), and pyropoikilocytosis (HPP), we have studied the ultrastructure of the spread membrane skeletons from a subpopulation...