The spleen, a major immune organ, contributes to the circulation of red blood cells, a process essential for survival. Rigid or adherent red blood cells are retained and eliminated by the spleen to prevent inadequate blood flow in other organs. The human spleen controls the quality of red blood cells by stringently challenging their deformability.
We study the circulatory capacity of red blood cells with reference tools (histology, cell morphology, ektacytometry, interference contrast, electron microscopy, mouse model, etc.) and with innovative methods (filtration by microbeads, flow imaging, ex-vivo perfusion of human spleens, splenomimetic microfluidics …). We have defined the splenic filtering functional unit, the splenon, by analogy with the renal filtering unit, the nephron. We also study the spleen-specific pitting process of pitting, by which rigid bodies are expelled from the red blood cell that returns to the circulation almost intact.
Concepts and applications are explored and envisioned in malaria, transfusion and red cell diseases.