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. 2020 Jan;18(1):40-48.
doi: 10.2450/2019.0166-19. Epub 2019 Nov 20.

Cigarette smoking and antioxidant defences in packed red blood cells prior to storage

Renata E Boehm  1   2 , Sabrina N Do Nascimento  3 , Carolina R Cohen  2 , Solange Bandiera  1 , Rianne R Pulcinelli  1 , Almeri M Balsan  2 , Nuryan S Fao  3 , Caroline Peruzzi  3 , Solange C Garcia  3 , Leo Sekine  2 , Tor G H Onsten  2 , Rosane Gomez  1
Affiliations

Cigarette smoking and antioxidant defences in packed red blood cells prior to storage

Renata E Boehm et al. Blood Transfus. 2020 Jan.

Abstract

Background: Red blood cells from smoking donors can have more lesions from oxidative stress, decreasing the benefits of blood transfusion. We aimed to explore the effect of cigarette smoking on the oxidative status of packed red blood cells (PRBCs) prior to storage.

Materials and methods: We compared serum vitamin C, plasmatic malondialdehyde (MDA), and non-protein thiol groups (GSH) levels in PRBCs, as well glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione s-transferase (GST) activity in PRBCs from smoking (n=36) and non-smoking (n=36) donors. We also correlated urinary cotinine levels with these parameters.

Results: Cigarette smoking was associated with decreased serum levels of vitamin C and GPx, and increased GST activity in PRBCs. We found negative correlations between cotinine, GPx activity and vitamin C levels, and a positive correlation between cotinine and GST activity.

Discussion: Cigarette smoking changed antioxidant defences of PRBCs prior to storage and these parameters are correlated with cotinine levels. Increased RBC antioxidants such as GST may reflect an exposure to oxidants during erythropoiesis. Because of the inability of mature RBCs to resynthesise antioxidants, PRBCs from smokers may have higher risk of storage lesions than those from non-smoker donors.

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Conflict of interest statement

The Authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Urinary cotinine levels of non-smoking (n= 36) and smoking (n=36) donors. Data are expressed as median±interquartile intervals. Mann-Whitney test. *Different from non-smokers (p<0.001).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Serum vitamin C levels of non-smoking (n=36) and smoking (n=36) donors. Data are expressed as median±interquartile intervals. Mann-Whitney test. *Different from non-smokers (p<0.001).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Endogenous antioxidant biomarkers in packed red blood cells of non-smoking (n=36) and smoking (n=36) donors. (A) Non-protein thiol group levels are shown as mean standard deviation/t-test. (B) Glutathione s-transferase (GST) levels are shown as median±interquartile intervals/Mann-Whitney test. (C) Glutathione peroxidase (GPX) levels are shown as mean±standard deviation/t-test. *Different from non-smokers (p<0.001).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Spearman’s rank correlations between urinary cotinine levels (ng mL−1). (A) Glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity in packed red blood cells (PRBCs) (μmol NADPH/min/mg protein). (B) Serum vitamin C levels (mg/L). (C) GST activity in PRBCs (U/mg protein) and (D) non-protein thiol groups PRBC levels ([mM]*(Ht/Hb) (n=72). Ht: haematocrit; Hb: haemoglobin.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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