[Morphobiochemical assay of the red blood system in members of the prime crews of the International Space Station].

According to the experiment Hematology protocol, blood samples from the Russian members of ISS prime crews 1 to 5 were gathered on L-30 and R+0, 7, 15 to study metabolic parameters (ATP, reduced glutathione, LHG and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activities). Lipid spectrum of membrane erythrocytes was determined in frozen erythrocyte mass; iron turnover and erythropoietin were investigated in frozen serum. Ratios of different erythrocyte forms were established in 32 microl of fixated whole blood using scanning electron microscopy. On R+0, the morpho-biochemical parameters of red blood appear to still carry the imprints of space effects and, to an extent, certain difference in the setting of blood sampling from the Mir crew on landing in the space "shuttle" vehicle. Low level of iron and significantly increased erythropoietin on R+0 are the testimony of intensive hemoglobin production and an adequate bone morrow response to the increased oxygen demand. Shifts in erythron are of no clinical implications but indicative of the red blood adaptation to the factors of space fight.