Effect of in vitro Treatment with Glycerophospholipid Containing Highly Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids on Deformability of Human Erythrocytes.

The flow rate of human erythrocytes on microchannels was measured to evaluate their deformability when treated with soy phospholipids, hydrogenated soy phospholipids, phospholipids containing icosape-ntaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). EPA-containing phosphatidylserine and DHA-containing phosphatidylcholine or phosphatidylethanolamine were observed to be the most effective lipid molecular species to improve the deformability of human erythrocytes, while hydrogenated phospho-lipids tended to impair deformability.