Hemolysis

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Hemolysis (or haemolysis)-from the Greek ¿¿¿¿ (aima, haema, hemo-) meaning "blood" and ¿¿¿¿¿ (lusis, lysis, -lysis) meaning a "loosing", "setting free" or "releasing"-is the breaking open of erythrocytes (red blood cells) and the release of their contents (hemoglobin) into surrounding fluid (e.g., blood plasma). Hemolysis may occur in vivo or in vitro. In vivo hemolysis can be caused by a large number of medical conditions, including many Gram-positive bacteria (e.g., streptococcus, enterococcus, and staphylococcus), some parasites (e.g., malaria), some autoimmune disorders (e.g., hemolytic disease of the newborn), and some genetic disorders (e.g., sickle-cell disease or G6PD deficiency).