By R. I. Weed and M. Bessis T HE DISCOCYTE-ECHINOCYTE transformation has become well known through the studies of Jolly,’ Ponder,2 Teitel-Bernard,3 Furchgott and Ponder,4 and, more recently, by Weed et al.5 and Bessis and Lessin.68 This subject has been recently reviewed in this journal by Brecher and Bessis.9 Certam characteristics of this transformation have been established. Intrinsic factor...

Neuroacanthocytosis is a heterogeneous group of disorders which result in progressive neurodegeneration, predominantly of the basal ganglia, and erythrocyte acanthocytosis. We report a case of neuroacanthocytosis with typical phenotype of choreoacanthocytosis. A 40 year male presented with features of chorea with orofaciolingual dystonia producing eating and speech difficulties. There were feat...

This study evaluates the haematological parameters and the observed erythrocytes morphological changesin dogs raised in Ibadan, Oyo State in the south western part of Nigeria. Blood samples were collected from sixty-four apparently healthy dogs. The haematological parameters of the blood samples collected were evaluated with the quantification of the percentage erythrocyte morphological abnorma...

A 58-year-old woman with a history of tobacco use and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was urgently referred by her family doctor for coffee-colored urine and swollen ankles since 2 days. The serum creatinine was 3.3 mg/dL, having increased from 0.9 mg/dL 1 month before. Blood pressure was 116/54 mmHg. The urine sediment showed acanthocytes and red cell casts and protein/ creatinine ratio ...

By R. I. Weed and M. Bessis T HE DISCOCYTE-ECHINOCYTE transformation has become well known through the studies of Jolly,’ Ponder,2 Teitel-Bernard,3 Furchgott and Ponder,4 and, more recently, by Weed et al.5 and Bessis and Lessin.68 This subject has been recently reviewed in this journal by Brecher and Bessis.9 Certam characteristics of this transformation have been established. Intrinsic factor...

Chorea-acanthocytosis (ChAc) is a rare autosomal recessive inherited syndrome characterized by hyperkinetic movements, seizures, cognitive impairment, neuropsychiatric symptoms, elevated serum biochemical indicators and acanthocytes detection in peripheral blood smear. Vacuolar protein sorting 13A (VPS13A) gene mutations have been proven to be genetically responsible for the pathogenesis of ChA...

We investigated the effects of N'-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) induced toxicity on red blood cell rheology in male rats and identified bands in proteomic profiles of brain which can be used as novel markers. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) profiles exhibited constitutive as well as induced expression of the polypeptides. Remarkably, the molecular weight range of the polypeptides (8-150...

Choreoacanthocytosis, more broadly called neuroacanthocytosis, is a rare neurodegenerative disorder usually inherited as an autosomal recessive trait. It is one of the neuroacanthocytosis syndromes characterized by neurological problems and acanthocytosis. Symptoms typically become apparent between the ages of 25 and 45. The disorder may be characterized by chorea, dystonia, a buckling gait, ti...

Biomembranes shown to behave like elastic sheets, can also suffer plastic deformations. Neutron scattering experiments on partially polymerised wrinkled membranes revealed that when a critical degree of polymerisation is crossed, the wrinkled membranes do not resume their spherical shapes. Instead they remain wrinkled and rigid while their non-polymerised counterparts resume their spherical flo...

A 50-year-old man presented with marked thrombocytopenia (platelet count 14 3 10 /L) in the setting of Child-Pugh B chronic liver disease secondary to hepatitis C infection and chronic alcohol consumption. The blood film demonstrated a microangiopathic hemolytic anemia (MAHA) with leukoerythroblastic and hyposplenic changes. Prominent red cell fragments, marked thrombocytopenia, nucleated red b...