Fig. 4

Optical and AFM imaging of entire erythrocyte membrane ghosts. A, B Time-lapse optical observation of the transformation from whole cells (dark) to membrane ghosts (ghosts; transparent) in hypotonic solution. The yellow asterisks indicate the sickle-shaped cells/ghosts. C Optical observation of membrane ghosts from normal (top) and sickle (bottom) erythrocytes. D AFM topographical images of glutaraldehyde-fixed ghosts from normal erythrocytes (left; the inset is enlarged from the white square showing the overlapping of two ghosts indicated by the white asterisks) and sickle erythrocytes (right). E Height profiles of the cross sections of individual ghosts across the dashed lines in C (the black asterisk in D corresponds to the white asterisks in C). F Quantitative analysis of average diameter (left) and average height (right) of ghosts (n = ~50; ***P < 0.001)