Erythrocyte membrane stabilization by indomethacin

Indian Journal of Pharmacology 1993; 25: 173 LETTER TO THE EDITOR
ERYTHROCYTE MEMBRANE STABILIZATION BY INDOMETHACIN
(Accepted for publication: April 06, 1993) The erythrocyte osmotic fragility tests has been used Figure 1. Osmotic fragility profile of erythrocytes. Each point is
as a measure of red cell tensile strength and is the mean of at least four experiments.
related to cellular deformability which is a significantaspect of red cell function.’ Indomethacin, a non- steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, was found to in-duce slight membrane changes in erythrocytes.²We studied the effect of indomethacin on erythrocyte osmotic fragility to ascertain its membrane stabilizing
effect.
Young albino rats (Charles foster) weighing 200- 2509 were maintained on commercial rat diet (Lip- ton Co., India) and water, They were divided intotwo groups. Animals in group I served as control and group II were administered indomethacin 0.4166mg/kg, p.o., bd x 5 days. After 5 days of drug treat- ment blood was collected in heparin (10 IU/ml) from the caudal vein. The osmotic fragility determinations were done by the method of Dacie and Lewis.³ The NaCl concentration of 50% hemolysis was taken as a measure of mean erythrocyte fragility (MEF).
membranes and organelles, any effect of a drug on In control rats, the osmotic fragility (O.F.) profile is the osmotic hemolysis can be interpreted as an almost a sigmoidal curve whereas in indomethacin effect on the cell membrane. The stabilizing effect treated animals the O.F. profile is shifted to the left of indomethacin on erythrocyte membrane may be which is due to decreased osmotic fragility showing membrane stabilization (Figure 1). The MEF is sig- shown to cause phospholipids disruption, an impor- nificantly (P < 0.01) decreased in indomethacin tant component of red cell membranes and as- treated rats. The MEF of control and indomethacin sociated structural changes in the red cell membrane treated rats are 0.740 ± 0.008 and 0.711 ± 0.002% lndomethacin is one of the most potent inhibitorsof the prostaglandin forming cyclooxygenase which IMTIAZ AHMAD* AND MOHAMMAD SUHAI L
reduces the production and tissue concentration of to act on erythrocytes in such a way that it causes * Present Address: Institute of Social Health Welfare Rural been reported that ingestion of indomethacin in- Development and Educational Society, ISWRDES (India), duces slight membrane changes in erythrocytes.² Since erythrocytes are free from intracellular REFERENCES
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Dacie JV, Lewis S.M. Practical hematology. Orient

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