Osmotic fragility and Na+,K+ ATPase activity of erythrocytes of HIV / AIDS patients.
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Date
2004
Authors
Ebuehi, O.A.T.
Balogun, M
Audu, R.A.
Idigbe, E.O
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Publisher
Saudi Medical Journal
Abstract
Symptomatology of human immuno-deficiency virus / acquired immuno-deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is diverse. However, anemia is one of the most universal clinical symptoms of the disease. The present study is to determine the osmotic fragility of erythrocyte of HIV/AIDS patients. Since the Na+ -K+-ATPase is the major transmembrane pump involved in regulating osmosis in the cell, it is pertinent to determine its activity in the erythrocytes of HIV/AIDS patients. This was a cross-sectional study involving 56 HIV seropositive subjects recruited and confirmed positive at the Human Virology Laboratory (HVL), Nigerian Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), Lagos. The HIV positive group was subdivided into 2 groups, those who were on antiretroviral therapy (ARV) at the Institute and those who had not commenced any form of ARV (non-ARV). The HIV positive subjects were grouped either as ARV (35 persons) or non-ARV (21 persons) subjects. Ten HIV seronegative persons served as the control group. Blood samples were collected by venous puncture into potassium EDTA bottles and used for CD4+ T-lymphocyte count within 6h of collection using the dynabeads method. One ml of blood was aliquoted for erythrocyte ghost membrane (EGM) preparation, while the remaining one ml was used for osmotic fragility assay. Osmotic fragility of the erythrocytes was determined by using saline solution of 0.85%, 0.65%, 0.35% and 0.1% NaCl to which 20ul of freshly collected blood was added. Na+ -K+-ATPase activity was calculated as the difference between total ATPase activity and ouabain inhibited activity. The Na+ -K+-ATPase activity of HIV/AIDS persons was slightly elevated with increased severity of the disease. Data of the study indicated that osmotic fragility of erythrocytes was significantly increased in HIV disease, while the marginally elevated Na+ -K+-ATPase activity may be as a result of the reverse in the deleterious effects of osmotic fragility in HIV/AIDS disease.
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Ebuehi, O.A.T., Balogun, M , Audu, R.A., Idigbe, E.O. (2004) Osmotic fragility and Na+,K+ ATPase activity of erythrocytes of HIV / AIDS patients. Saudi Medical Journal. 2 (22): 1412-1414.