Fig 1.
Ultrastructure of Iguana erythrocytes.
(A-D) Four different fields of blood specimens containing Iguana erythrocytes. Nuclei, mitochondria (mit) and uncharacterized internal membrane pools resembling endoplasmic reticulum (*) are indicated. High magnification images (4 and 10X) are shown on the right of each picture.
Fig 2.
Fluorescence images of Iguana erythrocytes.
Iguana erythrocytes stained with: phalloidin-FITC (green) to visualize actin fibers below the plasma membrane; the DNA-binding dye Hoechst 33342 (blue) to highlight nuclei; the Δψm-sensitive probe MitoTracker Red CMXRos (red) to localize polarized mitochondria. Superimposition (merge) of the three fluorescences is shown at the bottom, along with a 3X magnification detail of one erythrocyte.
Table 1.
Oxygen consumption of Iguana erythrocytes.
Fig 3.
Oxygen consumption of Iguana erythrocytes.
Purified erythrocytes obtained from 0.25 mL of blood were dissolved in 1.25 mL of measurement buffer containing 2.5 mM malate, 5 mM glutamate and 1 mM NADH to fuel complex I. Upon incubation with digitonin, oxygen consumption was measured for up to 5 minutes in the presence or absence of catalase (0.5 U) and expressed as nmol of oxygen per minute. Five μM rotenone was finally added to the oxygraphic chamber in order to irreversibly inhibit complex I activity and verify that oxygen consumption was dependent on complex I-driven mitochondrial respiration. (Buffer, measurement buffer without red blood cells; RBC, red blood cells; RBC + rot, red blood cells incubated with rotenone; RBC + cat, red blood cells incubated with catalase). *p = 0.030; n.s., not significant (p = 0.176).