The effect of Maillard reaction on red blood cells (RBC) deformability was investigated. Exposure of RBC to carbonyl compounds (DL-glyceraldehyde, glyoxal, glycolaldehyde, 3-deoxyglucosone, and D-glucose) leading to Maillard reaction caused a marked decrease in RBC deformability even at I mM level. The decrease rate depended on the kind of carbonyl compounds, in which both DL-glyceraldehyde and glyoxal significantly decreased the RBC deformability (p < 0.05). In addition, the decrease rate also differed among volunteers tested, indicating that the sensitivity against carbonyl compounds varies among them. In order to elucidate the mechanism of the decrease in RBC deformability, RBC was exposed to carbonyl compounds in the presence of aminoguanidine which is the inhibitor of AGE formation in Maillard reactions. Aminoguanidine inhibited the decrease in RBC deformability by DL-glyceraldehyde and glyoxal. When Hb which has a high reactivity with carbonyl compounds was incubated with those carbonyl compounds, DL-glyceraldehyde and glyoxal showed the high reactivity with Hb compared with other carbonyl compounds. These results indicate that Maillard reaction between RBC proteins and carbonyl compounds leads to the decrease in RBC deformability. On the other hand, O-2(-) generated by carbonyl compounds involved in lowering the deformability only to a negligible level. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.