Red blood cell distribution width is associated with increased interactions of blood cells with vascular wall

Ananthaseshan, S. et al. (2022) Red blood cell distribution width is associated with increased interactions of blood cells with vascular wall. Scientific Reports, 12, 13676. (doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-17847-z) (PMID:35953533) (PMCID:PMC9366818)

Abstract

The mechanism underlying the association between elevated red cell distribution width (RDW) and poor prognosis in variety of diseases is unknown although many researchers consider RDW a marker of inflammation. We hypothesized that RDW directly affects intravascular hemodynamics, interactions between circulating cells and vessel wall, inducing local changes predisposing to atherothrombosis. We applied different human and animal models to verify our hypothesis. Carotid plaques harvested from patients with high RDW had increased expression of genes and proteins associated with accelerated atherosclerosis as compared to subjects with low RDW. In microfluidic channels samples of blood from high RDW subjects showed flow pattern facilitating direct interaction with vessel wall. Flow pattern was also dependent on RDW value in mouse carotid arteries analyzed with Magnetic Resonance Imaging. In different mouse models of elevated RDW accelerated development of atherosclerotic lesions in aortas was observed. Therefore, comprehensive biological, fluid physics and optics studies showed that variation of red blood cells size measured by RDW results in increased interactions between vascular wall and circulating morphotic elements which contribute to vascular pathology.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was supported by Grants from the National Science Center NCN 2014/15/B/NZ5/03566; European Union, Health.2011.1.4-2—Contract no. 279288, the Karolinska Institute; Computational resources was provided by Swedish National Infrastructure of Computing (SNIC).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Guzik, Professor Tomasz
• Authors: Ananthaseshan, S., Bojakowski, K., Sacharczuk, M., Poznanski, P., Skiba, D. S., Prahl Wittberg, L., McKenzie, J., Szkulmowska, A., Berg, N., Andziak, P., Menkens, H., Wojtkowski, M., Religa, D., Lundell, F., Guzik, T., Gaciong, Z., and Religa, P.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Health
• Journal Name: Scientific Reports
• Publisher: Nature Research
• ISSN: 2045-2322
• ISSN (Online): 2045-2322
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Scientific Reports 12: 13676
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License