The Journal of General Physiology, Vol 78, 141-150, Copyright © 1981 by The Rockefeller University Press
Heterogeneity among dog red blood cells
JC Parker
A phthalate density-separation technique has been used to study the
heterogeneity of dog red blood cells that becomes manifest when they are
suspended in KCl media. It is demonstrated that the proportions of cells
that separate into light and dense fractions can be varied by altering the
tonicity of the KCl medium. This results from the fact that the Na and K
permeabilities of each cell are continuous functions of cell volume. It was
found that quinidine inhibits selectively the volume dependence of Na
permeability. In the presence of this drug, the heterogeneity demonstrated
by KCl incubation disappears. The notion that dog red blood cells are
heterogeneous in their permeabilities to Na and K is thus upheld, but the
heterogeneity is not an abruptly discontinuous one, as has been claimed. A
sample of dog blood does not contain two discrete populations of red cells.
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Facebook 
Reddit 
Technorati 
Twitter What's this?
