HETEROGENEITY IN DOG RED BLOOD-CELLS - SODIUM AND POTASSIUM-TRANSPORT

After incubation in isotonic KC1, dog red blood cells can be separated by centrifugation into subgroups which assume different cell volumes and possess different transport characteristics. Those red cells which swell in isotonic KC1 exhibit a higher permeability to K and possess a greater volume dependence for transport of K than those red cells which shrink. A high Na permeability characterizes cells which shrink in isotonic KC1 and these cells exhibit a larger volume-dependent Na flux than those red cells which swell. These two subgroups of red cells do not seem to represent two cell populations of different age. The results indicate that the population of normal cells is evidently heterogeneous in that the volume-dependent changes in Na and K permeability are distributed between different cell types rather than representing a single cell type which reciprocally changes its selectivity to Na and K. © 1979, Rockefeller University Press., All rights reserved.