Red blood cell deformability is diminished in patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Saha et al, 2019

Red blood cell deformability is diminished in patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Amit K. Saha, Brendan R. Schmidt, Julie Wilhelmy, Vy Nguyen, Abed Abugherir, Justin K. Do, Mohsen Nemat-Gorgani, Ronald W. Davis
Clinical Hemorheology and Microcirculation 71 (2019) 113–116
DOI: 10.3233/CH-180469
Full Text Link

Abstract
BACKGROUND: Myalgic encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is a poorly understood disease. Amongst others symptoms, the disease is associated with profound fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, sleep abnormalities, and other symptoms that are made worse by physical or mental exertion. While the etiology of the disease is still debated, evidence suggests oxidative damage to immune and hematological systems as one of the pathophysiological mechanisms of the disease. Since red blood cells (RBCs) are well-known scavengers of oxidative stress, and are critical in microvascular perfusion and tissue oxygenation, we hypothesized that RBC deformability is adversely affected in ME/CFS.

METHODS: We used a custom microfluidic platform and high-speed microscopy to assess the difference in deformability of RBCs obtained from ME/CFS patients and age-matched healthy controls.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: We observed from various measures of deformability that the RBCs isolated from ME/ CFS patients were significantly stiffer than those from healthy controls. Our observations suggest that RBC transport through microcapillaries may explain, at least in part, the ME/CFS phenotype, and promises to be a novel first-pass diagnostic test.

Edit: We have 3 threads on related or the same research by the same team:
Erythrocyte Deformability As a Potential Biomarker for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Davis et al (2018)
Altered Erythrocyte Biophysical Properties in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, 2019, Saha, Davis, et al
Red blood cell deformability is diminished in patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Saha et al, 2019

 

It sounds as if it have some effect. Also the Stanford researchers recently said that ME RBCs were much less deformable when hypoxic (unlike normals), which could act to produce positive feedback perpetuation.

It's possible it increases tissue oxygenation (somewhat paradoxically). Please see this post where I talked about a possible two-state mechanism.

ETA: ah think you'd already seen it - sorry

 

At one point, Ron was backtracking from the finding in this paper. And then, earlier this year he suggested the work may in fact be correct.

I recall from something I think @SNT Gatchaman posted that assessing red blood cell deformability is regularly done and that there are existing techniques to do it. Which made me wonder why the Davis team had chosen to make a custom technique when doing exploratory work in ME/CFS. Maybe Brendan Schmidt's thesis explains why they didn't first start by using an established technique.