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REGULATION OF SHEEP ERYTHROCYTE VOLUME IN ANISOTONIC MEDIA
Author(s) -
Benyajati Siribhinya,
Morris RJH
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
australian journal of experimental biology and medical science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.999
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1440-1711
pISSN - 0004-945X
DOI - 10.1038/icb.1975.54
Subject(s) - tonicity , potassium , extracellular , chemistry , biophysics , isotonic , swelling , sodium , in vitro , volume (thermodynamics) , osmotic concentration , extracellular fluid , permeability (electromagnetism) , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , medicine , biology , membrane , pathology , organic chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics
Summary Sheep erythrocytes of high and low potassium types were incubated in non‐haemolytic hypotonic and hypertonic media for 4·5 h at 30°, After initial swelling or shrinking, they readjusted their volume toward their initial isotonic volume. The volume regulation was associated with specific changes in cation fluxes. In the swollen cells, efflux of both sodium and potassium was increased and influx of both cations was slightly decreased; the converse was true for the shrunken cells. All four fluxes were changed in a direction that led to return to normal volume. The difference in the response of the two types of sheep erythrocytes to changes of extracellular fluid osmolality resided in the different activity of their cation transport systems. It is concluded that sheep erythrocytes possess some means of regulating their volume in vitro which is linked to cation permeability. The exact nature of the physical mechanisms by which they accomplish this remains to be elucidated.