Anatomy of the red cell membrane skeleton: unanswered questions

Anatomy of the red cell membrane skeleton: unanswered questions.

The red cell membrane skeleton is a pseudohexagonal meshwork of spectrin, actin, protein 4.1R, ankyrin, and actin-associated proteins that laminates the inner membrane surface and attaches to the overlying lipid bilayer via band 3-containing multiprotein complexes at the ankyrin- and actin-binding ends of spectrin. The membrane skeleton strengthens the lipid bilayer and endows the membrane with...

The red cell membrane skeleton: recent progress.

I T IS WIDELY believed that the lipid bilayer of the erythrocyte membrane is supported by an elaborate infrastructure of protein molecules that give it viscoelastic properties. The proteins that provide this function are popularly referred to as the “membrane skeleton.” This membrane skeleton is considered to be distinct from the so-called “cytoskeleton,” a term used by cell biologists to descr...

E-Learning: some unanswered questions

Membrane skeleton and red blood cell vesiculation at low pH.

Shapes of red blood cells at low pH were studied theoretically. It is assumed that the equilibrium shape of the red blood cell corresponds to the minimum of its membrane elastic energy which consists of the bending energy and relative stretching energy of the bilayer, the stretching energy of the skeleton and the interaction energy between the skeleton and the bilayer. It is shown that the aggr...

The Key Questions Remain Unanswered

First, we described an illustrative notional planning magnitude for each threat based on a stylized threat and risk assessment, while noting that a more comprehensive threat and risk assessments could reveal that these illustrative magnitudes were either too high or too low. Our illustrative threat assessments relied on historical data revealing observed frequencies and consequences of each thr...