Predicting the morphology of sickle red blood cells using coarse-grained models of intracellular aligned hemoglobin polymers.

ABSTRACT: Sickle red blood cells (SS-RBCs) exhibit heterogeneous cell morphologies (sickle, holly leaf, granular, etc.) in the deoxygenated state due to the polymerization of the sickle hemoglobin. Experimental evidence points to a close relationship between SS-RBC morphology and intracellular aligned hemoglobin polymers. Here, we develop a coarse-grained (CG) stochastic model to represent the growth of the intracellular aligned hemoglobin polymer domain. The CG model is calibrated based on the mechanical properties (Young's modulus, bending rigidity) of the sickle hemoglobin fibers reported in experiments. The process of the cell membrane transition is simulated for physiologic aligned hemoglobin polymer configurations and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration. Typical SS-RBC morphologies obser

SUBMITTER: Lei H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3846403 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature