Protective effect of alpha-tocopherol on the morphological and rheological changes of rat red cells.

The effect of alpha-tocopherol on the rheological properties of rat red cells was studied. The suspension viscosity of red cells increased, as the alpha-tocopherol content in red cells decreased. The red cells gradually transformed to echinocytes in isotonic solution dependent on the alpha-tocopherol content. The unique correlations among the viscosity, the transformation, and alpha-tocopherol content were observed. It was shown that the increased suspension viscosity of alpha-tocopherol-deficient cells could have arisen from the difficulty of echinocytes to undergo high shear deformation. The possible mechanism is discussed.