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Role of Intracellular and Extracellular Cationic Composition in Immune Lysis of Mammalian Erythrocytes¹

From the Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of Minnesota Medical School, Veterans Administration Hospital, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55417, and Institute of Medical Research, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina

Abstract

Immune lysis of human, rat, and sheep erythrocytes (E) containing high K and low Na (HK) was markedly influenced by the alkali metal ions present in the reaction mixture. The degree of lysis in the various cations conforms to the series K > Rb > Li > Cs > Na or to a slightly different one. Immune lysis of dog, cat, and sheep E containing low K and high Na (LK) was unaffected or only slightly affected by changes in the alkali metal ions present in the reaction system.

Human E which were converted artificially into LK E had a larger degree of immune lysis in Na buffer than the original HK E, approaching the degree of lysis obtained in K buffer. This suggests that the intracellular cationic composition of naturally occurring HK E is essential for their different reactivity with complement (C) in media with various alkali metal cations. In contrast, experimental conversion of sheep LK E into HK E caused no modification of their initial reactivity with C in Na and K media. This indicates that the membranes of naturally occurring LK E react optimally with C independently of the intra- and extracellular cationic composition.

Previous work demonstrated that immune lysis in Na buffer could be enhanced by treatment of the cells with K before the C reaction. The degree of C lysis in Na buffer of the sheep HK E examined in the present study, however, was not enhanced by preliminary treatment with K buffer. Therefore, it appears that this assay permits differentiation of two types of sheep HK E. Human E failed to respond with enhancement of immune lysis in Na buffer after pretreatment with K buffer. Ouabain treatment of HK sheep E caused no modification in the degree of C lysis obtained in either Na or K buffer.

Footnotes

¹ This work was supported by research grants from the Veterans Administration (MRIS 1718) and the National Research Council of Argentina (CONICET).

² Part of this work was carried out as Career Investigator of CONICET. Present address: Veterans Hospital, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55417.

³ Recipient of a fellowship from Institute of Pharmacology, Secretary of Public Health of Argentina.

⁴ Career Investigator of CONICET.