Table 1.

Erythrocyte functions in vertebrates.

Proposed functions	Mammals	Fish	Amphibian	Reptils	Birds
Gas exchange function	[18]	[18]	[18]	[18]	[18]
Sugar transport	[19]	[26]	[34]	[36]	[40]
Calcium homeostasis	[20]	[27]	[35]	[37]	[41]
Redox homeostasis	[17]	[28]	-	[38]	[42]
Cell proliferation	[21]	-	-	-	[43]
Antiviral response		[29]	-	-	-
Antimicrobial activity
Immune complex	[22]	[30]	-	-	-
ROS production	[23]	[31]	-	-	-
Hemoglobin	[24]	[32]	-	[39]	-
Other related functions	[25]	[33]	-	-	[44]

Table reports functions associated to erythrocytes in mammals, fish, amphibian, reptiles and birds. References are numbered according to appearance.