Mechanical Fatigue as a Possible Determinant of in vivo Longevity of Red Blood Cells

Red blood cells lyse when subjected repeatedly to osmotic swelling and shrinking. The number of osmotic cycles causing 50 percent of the cells to lyse increases exponentially as the magnitude of swelling decreases. An extrapolation of this relationship to the osmotic volume changes cells experience in vivo gives the survival halflife of red cells in circulation.