The shape of human red blood cells (RBCs) deteriorates progressively throughout hypothermic storage, with echinocytosis being the most prevalent pathway of this morphologic lesion.  RBCs were leukoreduced, resuspended in saline, and treated with various concentrations of sodium salicylate to induce shape changes approximating the stages of echinocytosis experienced by RBCs during hypothermic storage (e.g., discocyte, echinocyte I, echinocyte II, echinocyte III, spheroechinocyte, and spherocyte).  Echinocytosis induced by hypothermic storage could therefore be responsible for a similarly substantial impairment of deformability previously observed for stored RBCs.
THERM