Quantitation of mtDNA in RBCs of HCs, AS, and patients with SCD. (A) Graph shows a significantly higher copy number of mtDNA in freshly acquired RBCs from patients who were SCD-Baseline (n = 2) compared with HCs and AS (n = 3 each). (B) Confirmation of the findings from panel A with a separate set of HCs (n = 4) and SCD-Baseline subjects (n = 4). Whole blood from HCs, AS, and SCD-Baseline subjects were stained with pan-leukocyte (CD45) and erythroid (CD71, CD235a) markers, followed by FACS. Errors bars represent the sample mean ± SD. *P < .05, 1-way analysis of variance with Tukey’s multiple-comparisons test (A), nonparametric Student t test (B).