Microparticles role in coagulation changes in patients with hereditary spherocytosis

Hereditary Spherocytosis is a congenital disease with the abnormalities of proteins in the erythrocyte membrane, and therefore RBC’s permeability and elasticity is impaired. During the circulation in the blood flow, the ratio of the surface to the volume of the red blood cell is disturbed, and the cell becomes the shape of sphere. After passing through small capillaries, parts of the membrane, microparticles, are "laced off" from the RBC. There is a perception that one of the mechanisms of development of hypercoagulation leading to thromboembolism in patients with hemolysis is the contribution of procoagulant microparticles. Indeed, the microparticles that have separated from the erythrocyte rapidly become ATP-free, resulting the loss of asymmetric lipid distribution in the microparticle’s membrane. Phosphatidylserine, a factor important for blood clotting, is exposed on the outside surface of the microparticle. It has been shown that the number of procoagulant microparticles increases during hemolytic crisis in children with Hereditary Spherocytosis, which leads to hypercoagulation. That was recorded using a global hemostasis assay, Thrombodynamics. The increased number of microparticles is one of the possible ways to impair the blood clotting. Using microparticles titration in purified plasma of healthy donors, we determined that at the same concentrations the microparticles of patients and donors affect the Thrombodynamics clot growth rate the same way. Presumably the increased numbers of microparticles can be considered as biomarker of cell damage and prothrombotic conditions.