Erythrocyte Membrane Stabilization By Indomethacin

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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 as a measure of red cell tensile strength and is related to cellular deformability which is a significant aspect of red cell function.’ Indomethacin, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, was found to induce slight membrane changes in erythrocytes.² We studied the effect of indomethacin on erythrocyte osmotic fragility to ascertain its membrane stabilizing effect. Young albino rats (Charles foster) weighing 2002509 were maintained on commercial rat diet (Lipton Co., India) and water, They were divided into two groups. Animals in group I served as control and group II were administered indomethacin 0.4166 mg/kg, p.o., bd x 5 days. After 5 days of drug treatment 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). In control rats, the osmotic fragility (O.F.) profile is almost a sigmoidal curve whereas in indomethacin treated animals the O.F. profile is shifted to the left which is due to decreased osmotic fragility showing membrane stabilization (Figure 1). The MEF is significantly (P < 0.01) decreased in indomethacin treated rats. The MEF of control and indomethacin treated rats are 0.740 ± 0.008 and 0.711 ± 0.002% sodium chloride respectively. lndomethacin is one of the most potent inhibitors of the prostaglandin forming cyclooxygenase which reduces the production and tissue concentration of prostaglandin4 Prostaglandin Et (PGEl) was found to act on erythrocytes in such a way that it causes membrane phospholipids disruption5 It has earlier been reported that ingestion of indomethacin induces slight membrane changes in erythrocytes.² Since erythrocytes are free from intracellular

Figure 1. Osmotic fragility profile of erythrocytes. Each point is the mean of at least four experiments. 100 80 ‘;i

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01 0.4 0.8 0 0.2 0.6 1 Sodium chloride (%)

membranes and organelles, any effect of a drug on the osmotic hemolysis can be interpreted as an effect on the cell membrane. The stabilizing effect of indomethacin on erythrocyte membrane may be due to the less production of PGEl which has been shown to cause phospholipids disruption, an important component of red cell membranes and associated structural changes in the red cell membrane after indomethacin treatment.

IMTIAZ AHMAD* AND MOHAMMAD SUHAIL Department of Biochemistry, University of Allahabad, Allahabad - 211 002, U.P. * Present Address: Institute of Social Health Welfare Rural Development and Educational Society, ISWRDES (India), 80-A, Rasoolpur, Syedwara, Allahabad - 211 003, U.P.

REFERENCES U.S. Department of the Army TM8-227-4. Laboratory procedures in clinical hematology. Washington D.C., U.S. Govt. Printing Office, 1963, 427-30. Mazorow DL, Hang A, Bull R, McGroarty EJ. Effect of aspirin, indomethacin and sodium salicylate on human erythrocyte membranes as detected with electron spin resonance spectroscopy. Throm Res 1985;40:779-92. Dacie JV, Lewis S.M. Practical hematology. Orient

Longman, 1984;152-6. 4. Goodman LS, Gilman A. The pharmacological basis of therapeutics. 7th eds. New York: McMillan Publishing Co. Inc., 1985:705. 5. Taniguchi M, Alkawa M, Sakagami T Effect of prostaglandin EI and polyphloretin phosphate on hemolysis of human eryrhrocytes. J Biochem 1982;91:1173-9.