Abstract
Normal red cells survive in man for about 120 days, and random destruction is minimal. At the end of their life-span the red cells are taken up by phagocytes. Presumably these cells can sense the biophysical and biochemical changes that occur during the life cycle of the red cells and can recognize and remove the aging cells. The changes that occur with aging may be structural or changes in the chemical composition of the cells or in their metabolism. The normal intact cells possess considerable reduction potentials. Glutathione is essential to the integrity of the cells, and it is reduced by glutathione-reductase. Most of the NADPH that is formed in the course of the hexose-monophosphate cycle is utilized in the reduction of glutathione, and the reduced glutathione protects the cells against the oxidative processes. The stability particularly of the SH-radical-containing enzymes, of the SH groups of hemoglobin, and of the structural proteins is related to the presence of GSH (Beutler, 1956; Allen and Jandl, 1961; Rapoport, 1962; Scheuch and Wagenknecht, 1962; Waller and Löhr, 1963).
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© 1983 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest
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Bernát, I. (1983). Red Cell Destruction. In: Iron Metabolism. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-7308-1_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-7308-1_12
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