Extended Data Fig. 7 | Reduction of membrane tension in non-Dantu and
Dantu-homozygous RBCs on treatment with phloretin. a–d, Biophysical
properties in non-Dantu (a, b) and Dantu-homozygous (c, d) RBCs after
treatment with phloretin. **P < 0.01. Phloretin treatment causes a decrease in
tension without affecting the bending modulus at 150 μM (P = 0.0015) and
200 μM (P = 1 .72 × 10−4) μM for both non-Dantu and Dantu samples. Above
200 μM phloretin, most RBCs become crenated and cannot be used for
f lickering spectroscopy. Phloretin has an effect on RBC tension only when it is
present in the medium; that is, RBCs recover their normal tension when
washed. a, b, Data from about 30 cells from 3 biologically independent
non-Dantu samples. c, d, Data from 60 cells from 4 biologically independent
Dantu samples. Statistical comparisons between untreated RBCs and those
treated with 150 μM phloretin (P = 0.01) or with 200 μM phloretin (P = 0.0022)
were carried out using a two-sided Mann–Whitney U-test.