PRELIMINARY STUDY OF ALTERATIONS IN HUMAN RED BLOOD CELLS BY IRRADIATION WITH HIGH ENERGY PHOTONS

E. ESTRADA; L. DI TULLIO; A. CHINELATTO; B. RIQUELME; A. ACOSTA; I. TACK; H. CASTELLINI; J. BORRAS; M.E. GALASSI

Recife

Congreso; ENCONTRO ANUAL DA BIOFÍSICA (2018): XX-XX. BIOFÍSICA E RADIOBIOLOGIA, BIOCIÊNCIAS, UFPE; 2019

Universidade Federale de Pernambuco

Blood transfusions are essential in many disease treatments. Transfusion-associated graft-versus-host disease can be prevented by treating cellular blood products with gamma irradiation at doses between 25 and 50 Gy. However, the biological effects of ionizing radiations are strongly related to the type of cell, its sensibility and level of oxygenation. Many investigations are centered in studying the effects of radiation over hematological and biochemical parameters at different storage time of red blood cells (RBC) units; but there are few that have addressed how radiation affects the mechanical properties and aggregation of RBC. Researches performed over lymphocytes and platelets have shown that changes in the deformability and aggregation properties can reduce the blood flux and generate obstructions when the radiation dose is high. In this preliminary work, whole blood samples were irradiated with different gamma doses from a 137Cs source. The blood samples were studied using the Erythrocyte Rheometer and the Optical Chip Erythrocyte Aggregometer to measure the RBC viscoelastic and aggregation parameters. Results show that gamma radiation produces changes in the erythrocyte aggregation and a rigidizing of the cell membrane, which are more significant when the dose increases