Increased susceptibility of microcytic red blood cells to in vitro oxidative stress.

Oxidative damage to erythrocytes in thalassaemia has been related to generation of free radicals by an excess of denaturated alpha- or beta-globin chains, intracellular iron overload and low concentration of normal haemoglobin (HGB). Two good indicators of such oxidative damage are the high red blood cell (RBC) malonyldialdehyde (MDA) production detected following exogenous oxidant stress and the decrease of pyrimidine 5'-nucleotidase (P5N), the most sensitive enzyme to SH-group damage in vivo. Conflicting data, however, have so far accumulated in the literature concerning differences in oxidative damage between the different forms of thalassaemia and iron deficiency anaemia (IDA). In the p…