« Red blood cells: a good model to measure antioxidant status »

(L’évaluation du stress oxydatif d’un individu : une réalité pour le médecin. Pincemail et al., 1999

RBC: Tool for Oxidant Agents Screening Test. Parisa Sadighara. Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 2009). 

Not all individuals have the same oxidative status: they are more or less sensible to oxidative stress. The latter occurs when activated oxygen species (AOS) such as free radicals, submerge antioxidant defense.

Red blood cells susceptibility to oxidative stress makes them an appropriate model to evaluate the oxidative defense of individuals. These cells may be exposed to a system that generates free radicals or hydrogen peroxide and measure hemolysis as in vitro marker of oxidative stress. Girodon and al. have shown that the oxidative defenses of elderly people’s red blood cells were significantly reduced compared to young people.

In 2009, red blood cells were tested as a tool for oxidizing agent’s screening test. In this test, Sadighara evaluated the oxidizing agent by determining the effect of their concentration on the production of Heinz bodies, on 50 % of the red blood cells.

Red blood cells are very rich in antioxidant enzymes, which protect hemoglobin and the cell membrane from oxidation and from the damages caused by oxygen transport.

These antioxidant enzymes are the superoxide dismutase, the catalase and glutathione superoxide.

Several studies on animals have shown that these enzymes increased during low oxidative stress (adaptation) and decreased when oxidative stress was too strong. Commercial kits exist to measure superoxide dismutase and the glutathione superoxide.

All these measurement methods use red blood cells. They are indeed easily accessible, which permit to evaluate the antioxidant status of individuals whatever the species concerned.