Red Cell Metabolism And Function

In the last six years, a remarkable series of stUdies have demonstrated an intimate relationship between red cell metabolism and the function of the cell as an organ of gas transport. First came the demonstration of binding of organic phosphocompounds of the red cell to hemoglobin; this was followed by studies that demonstrated modification of hemoglobin oxygen affinity by such binding. At present we are in an exhilirating phase of accrual of data showing that the levels of these phosphorylated inter mediates can be rapidly altered in the red cell to modulate hemo globin function. At one time it was said that the red cell was an inert bag full of hemoglobin. Now we know not only that the cell has an active metabolism crucial to its viability, but that this metabolism is just as crucial to the whole organism in the proper adjustment of oxygen transport. On October first, second and third, 1969, red cell biochemists, general biochemists, geneticists, cardio-pulmonary physiologists, exercise physiologists, experts in blood storage, and represen tatives from many other disciplines met in the Towsley Center for Continuing Medical Education at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, to present recent findings and discuss developments in this new interdisciplinary field. The meeting was dedicated to Dr. Alfred Chanutin, Professor Emeritus of the University of Virginia, to honor his retirement in 1967 and in recognition of his great contributions to the studies outlined in the first paragraph of this preface.

Hemoglobin and the red cell have continued to set a dizzying pace as the objects of research in the two and one-half year interval since the First International Conference on Red Cell Metabolism and Function. Most exciting perhaps, is a beginning molecular attack on sickle cell disease. The story of the inter action of red cell metabolism and oxygen transport has continued to unfold, and we can now infer that patients with hypoxia usually utilize red cell metabolic adjustments to improve oxygenation. This puts the red cell squarely in the center of medical practice, since much of medicine-heart, pulmonary, and blood disease- deals with inadequate oxygenation. On April 27th through the 29th, 1972, crystallographers, chemists, biochemists, physiologists, geneticists, and physi cians from many medical disciplines met in the Towsley Center for Continuing Medical Education at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor to present new data, to review recent developments, and to try to piece together additional features of the red cell puzzle. The meeting was dedicated to Dr. Francis John Worsley Roughton, Professor Emeritus of Colloid Science, University of Cambridge, England, in recognition of his numerous excellent contributions to the understanding of hemoglobin and red cell function. The program got off to a good start with a paper from M. F. Perutz, Nobel Laureate, on the structure of hemoglobin. Dr.

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The Red Blood Cell, Second Edition, Volume I provides information pertinent to red blood cells, which is the most intensely studied human tissue. This book reviews the basic biomedical knowledge about the circulating, red blood cells. Organized into 13 chapters, this edition starts with an overview of the discovery of red blood cells, which results in the growth of knowledge in the areas of clinical disease and therapeutic efforts. This book then discusses the significant functions of the red blood cells, which exists basically to transport the respiratory gases. Other chapters examine the red blood cell’s capacity for protein synthesis and its ability to diversify its function. This book discusses as well the progress in the structural analysis of lipids. The final chapter deals with the capacity to store red blood cells frozen for long periods with high yield of viable physiological functional cells after post-thaw processing. Scientists, physicians, teachers, researchers, and students will find this book extremely useful.