Journal of Applied Physiology, Vol 49, Issue 2 306-310, Copyright © 1980 by American Physiological Society
Resistance of red blood cell membrane to oxygen uptake
H. Rotman, I. Ikeda, C. S. Chiu, E. Kramer and D. Aminoff
The apparent association velocity constant (k'c) was determined before and
after disruption of the red blood cell membrane in one of several ways: 1)
radiation of the cells using a 137Cs source did not significantly alter k'c
(95 +/- 39.3 and 118 +/- 35.5 mM-1.s-1), 2) incubation of the cells with
sialidase produced no change in k'c (112 +/- 42.6 and 123 +/- 46.8
mM-1.s-1), 3) using papain for the incubation similarly produced no
significant alteration in k'c (94 +/- 21.2 and 113 +/- 51.8 mM-1.s-1), 4) a
radiomimetic agent p-chloromercuribenzene sulfonate likewise produced no
significant alteration in k'c (128 +/- 16.3 and 122 +/- 3.5 mM-1.s-1), and
5) employing phospholipase C to disrupt the membrane k'c did not
significantly change (115 +/- 15.3 and 112 +/- 8.7 mM-1.s-1). We conclude
that either O2 traverses the membrane in a manner uninfluenced by the
manipulations here employed, or that the membrane offers no significant
resistance to the speed of O2 uptake.
