Factors raising intracellular calcium increase red blood cell heterogeneity in density and critical osmolality.

Background: In normal human blood, RBC volume (V), surface area (A) and hemoglobin content (H) exhibit Gaussian distributions with coefficients of variation (CV) of 10-15%. Strikingly narrower distributions are observed for their cell density (CV approximately 0.5%) and filterability (CV approximately 5-7%).