An in vitro study of adrenaline effect on human erythrocyte properties in both gender.

The possibility that erythrocytes may function as a reservoir for noradrenaline and adrenaline and as a modulator of circulating catecholamine concentrations had been suggested. The aim of this work was to study the adrenaline effect on erythrocyte membrane fluidity, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) enzyme activity, P(50) and erythrocyte deformability and also to verify if the role of adrenaline on erythrocyte properties is sex-dependent. Blood samples from 42 healthy donors were obtained, and its aliquots incubated 30 min without (control) and with 10(-5) M concentrations of adrenaline alone (A(1)) and adrenaline with an alpha and an beta-blocker (A(2)). Results demonstrate that initial AChE values in female are higher (p