Hemin-induced suicidal erythrocyte death

Several diseases, such as malaria, sickle cell disease, and ischemia/reperfusion may cause excessive formation of hemin, which may in turn trigger hemolysis. A variety of drugs and diseases leading to hemolysis triggers suicidal erythrocyte death or eryptosis, i.e., cell membrane scrambling and cell shrinkage. Eryptosis is elicited by increased cytosolic Ca2+ activity and by ceramide. The present study explored whether hemin stimulates eryptosis. Cell membrane scrambling was estimated from annexin V-binding to phosphatidylserine exposed at the cell surface, cell shrinkage from forward scatter in fluorescence-activated cell sorter analysis, cytosolic Ca2+ activity from Fluo3 fluorescence and ceramide formation from fluorescence-labeled antibody binding. Exposure to hemin (1–10 μM) within 48 h significantly increased annexin V-binding, decreased forward scatter, increased cytosolic Ca2+ activity, and stimulated ceramide formation. In conclusion, hemin stimulates suicidal cell death, which may in turn contribute to the clearance of circulating erythrocytes and thus to anemia.