hematopoietic system
• spleen is significantly enlarged
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• there is an elevated level of apoptotic erythroid precursors in mutant spleens
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• spleen shows increased proportion of erythroid precursors
• cultured spleen cells show a higher proportion of burst-forming unit erythroid and colony-forming unit erythroid cells (BFUe and CFUe's)
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• erythrocytes exhibit a half-life of 12 days, compared to 22 days of cells from wild-type littermates
• erythroid precursors show significant hyperplasia in the spleen and to a lesser degree in the bone marrow
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• hematocrit is reduced to 48.7% from 55.8% in wild-type
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• erythrocytes contain alpha- and beta-globin precipitates; membrane-associated globin chains are not observed in control littermates
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• variation in hemoglobin content of mutant erythrocytes, evidenced by increased hemoglobin distribution width (HDW), is observed
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• mice have small red blood cells with low mean corpuscular hemoglobin (13.6 pg vs 16.2 pg in wild-type)
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• significant variation in size of erythrocytes as shown by increased red blood cell distribution width (RBW)
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• spiculated red blood cells can be seen in blood smears
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• blood smears show morphologic abnormalities such as irregular size and shape
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• some erythrocytes have inclusion bodies composed of denatured hemoglobin chains (Heinz bodies)
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leptocytosis
(
J:94421
)
• target red blood cells (codocytes) can be seen in blood smears
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• large inclusions are present only in polychromatophilic cells, suggesting accelerated erythrocyte destruction
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• reticulocyte count is elevated (to 4.4% from 2.2% in wild-type)
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cellular
• mutants show a larger decrease in hematocrit after phenylhydrazine treatment resulting from hemolytic anemia compared to control littermates
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• mutant erythrocytes display intrinsically elevated oxidative stress
• mice have increased levels of reactive oxygen species catalyzed by alpha-hemoglobin
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immune system
• spleen is significantly enlarged
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growth/size/body
• spleen is significantly enlarged
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