Dear Editor,

During their daily life, erythrocytes are exposed to a variety of stress situations. On average, they pass once a minute through the lung, where they are exposed to oxidative stress. More than once an hour, they travel through kidney medulla, where they face osmotic shock. Erythrocytes are deformed to squeeze through small capillaries. The loss of erythrocyte cell integrity is pathological; rupture releases hemoglobin to extracellular fluid, which may be filtered at the glomerula of the kidney, precipitate in the acid lumen of the tubules, obliterate the tubules and thus lead to renal failure. To avoid these complications, erythrocytes, as any other cells, require a mechanism allowing them to be disposed without release of intracellular components.

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