Size Dependence of Ghosts from Stored Erythrocytes on Calcium and Adenosinetriphosphate: Evidence for Two Cell Populations

摘要

Heterogeneity within ghosts prepared from stored erythrocytes was studied by multichannel particle analysis of size distributions of reconstituted ghosts. Upon restoration of isotonicity of hemolysates from fresh erythrocytes, ghosts were smaller than the corresponding red cells. After subsequent standing for 15 minutes, they swelled to a final stable volume. The homolysis of stored erythrocytes and restoration of isotonicity yielded ghosts similar to those from fresh cells, but after subsequent standing a second population of small ghosts appeared. This population resulted from markedly diminished ghost swelling, which is attributed to decreased sodium permeability and increased membrane rigidity, causing resistance to changes in volume. It is concluded that the observed changes in membrane physical properties of stored erythrocytes are due to conformational changes of fibrous (contractile) proteins of the membrane, resulting from decreases in ATP and increases in calcium content. The percentage of small ghosts from red cells stored for various times agreed with the percentage of non-viable cells derived from the literature. (Author)