Lipid composition of erythrocytes in iron deficiency anemia

: The assay of lipid composition in red blood cells of 51 patients with iron-deficiency anemia (IDA) was conducted with the use of horizontal thin-layer chromatography, and the state of the end blood flow was studied with the ai of conjunctival biomicroscopy. It was found that in IDA patients the content of total lipids, phospholipids, free fatty acids, cholesterol, sphingomyelins, cardiolipins and phosphatidic acids increased and that of triglycerides decreased. The content of the rest fractions of total lipids in IDA patients was practically not changed. Variations in lipid composition of red blood cells lead to disorders in their functional activity. In IDA patients it is clinically expressed in the development of the sludge phenomenon that aggravates tissue hypoxia in women with this disease.