1. Sci Rep. 2017 Jun 27;7(1):4264. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-04388-z.

Contribution of plasma membrane lipid domains to red blood cell (re)shaping.

Leonard C(1)(2), Conrard L(2), Guthmann M(2), Pollet H(2), Carquin M(2), Vermylen
C(3), Gailly P(4), Van Der Smissen P(2), Mingeot-Leclercq MP(1), Tyteca D(5).

Author information: 
(1)FACM Unit, Louvain Drug Research Institute & Université catholique de Louvain,
1200, Brussels, Belgium.
(2)CELL Unit, de Duve Institute & Université catholique de Louvain, 1200,
Brussels, Belgium.
(3)PEDI Unit, Institut de Recherche expérimentale et clinique & Université
catholique de Louvain, 1200, Brussels, Belgium.
(4)CEMO Unit, Institute of Neuroscience & Université catholique de Louvain, 1200,
Brussels, Belgium.
(5)CELL Unit, de Duve Institute & Université catholique de Louvain, 1200,
Brussels, Belgium. donatienne.tyteca@uclouvain.be.

Although lipid domains have been evidenced in several living cell plasma
membranes, their roles remain largely unclear. We here investigated whether they 
could contribute to function-associated cell (re)shaping. To address this
question, we used erythrocytes as cellular model since they (i) exhibit a
specific biconcave shape, allowing for reversible deformation in blood
circulation, which is lost by membrane vesiculation upon aging; and (ii) display 
at their outer plasma membrane leaflet two types of submicrometric domains
differently enriched in cholesterol and sphingomyelin. We here reveal the
specific association of cholesterol- and sphingomyelin-enriched domains with
distinct curvature areas of the erythrocyte biconcave membrane. Upon erythrocyte 
deformation, cholesterol-enriched domains gathered in high curvature areas. In
contrast, sphingomyelin-enriched domains increased in abundance upon calcium
efflux during shape restoration. Upon erythrocyte storage at 4 °C (to mimick
aging), lipid domains appeared as specific vesiculation sites. Altogether, our
data indicate that lipid domains could contribute to erythrocyte
function-associated (re)shaping.

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-04388-z 
PMCID: PMC5487352
PMID: 28655935