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Membrane phospholipid asymmetry in DMPC‐induced human red cell vesicles
Author(s) -
de Jong Kitty,
Ott Peter
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/0014-5793(93)81708-8
Subject(s) - vesicle , phosphatidylserine , phospholipid , spectrin , membrane , red blood cell , biophysics , chemistry , prothrombinase , liposome , phospholipase a2 , biochemistry , biology , cell , cytoskeleton , thrombin , platelet , immunology , enzyme
Vesicles that do not contain spectrin were released from human erythrocytes by incubation with dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine. The transbilayer orientation of membrane phospholipids was subsequently determined by two independent methods. Incubation with phospholipase A 2 revealed that the phospholipid asymmetry observed in red blood cells was essentially preserved in vesicles. By use of the prothrombinase assay a still highly asymmetric distribution of phosphatidylserine could be demonstrated in spite of its slightly increased exposure on the vesicle surface. These results show that membrane phospholipid asymmetry can be maintained in a system that does not contain an intact membrane skeleton or spectrin.