Membrane pores in hypotonically dialyzed sheep erythrocytes remain open after three weeks of storage: entrapment of different stokes radius probes, [14C]sucrose and [3H]inulin

Sheep carrier erythrocytes were prepared from dialyzed cells stored for 3 weeks. The initial pore size in freshly dialyzed cells exceeds the Stokes radius of that for hemoglobin. Hypotonically dialyzed erythrocytes are then very stable in a porous state. Two probes of different Stokes radius were used to determine the relative size of the pores. Sheep erythrocytes entrap inulin to a greater extent than sucrose, a much smaller molecule. With storage, a greater fraction of dialyzed cells become impermeable to inulin than to sucrose indicative of pore size greater than 5.2 less than 20 A. Since hemoglobin content did not change relative to storage, the pore size was less than the Stokes radius of hemoglobin. Pores generated by controlled hypotonic dialysis are unlike the single rupture pore found in erythrocyte ghosts.     

Neutralization of diphtheria toxin in living cells by microinjection of antifragment A contained within resealed erythrocyte ghosts

When human erythrocytes suspended in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) containing lgG were first dialyzed against a hypotonic solution and then dialyzed against PBS, lgG molecules were entrapped within resealed erythrocyte ghosts. The concentration of lgG inside the ghosts was about 33% of its concentration in the dialysis bag. With the aid of HVJ (Sendai virus), ghosts containing rabbit lgG antibody against fragment A of diphtheria toxin were fused with toxin-sensitive FL cells. The fused FL recipients were found to be resistant to the action of diphtheria toxin. Clones derived from the resistant recipient cells, however, became sensitive to the toxin again. Antifragment A neutralized the enzymic activity of isolated fragment A in vitro, but did not protect FL cells or rabbit skin against the complete toxin.     

Encapsulation by hypotonic dialysis in human erythrocytes: a diffusion or endocytosis process

Human erythrocytes subjected to controlled hypotonic dialysis are capable of encapsulating and retaining drugs. Under selected conditions encapsulation has been reported to occur by an endocytosis process. The mechanism by which encapsulation occurs under conditions which are conducive for endocytosis to occur was studied. An analysis of the percentage of cells with endocytic vacuoles was made for cells dialyzed to optimal and suboptimal osmotic pressures for encapsulation. No differences were found with approximately 20% of cells from all preparations containing vacuoles. Transmission electron micrographs of cells in different stages of carrier cell preparation reveal endocytic vacuoles both with and without hemoglobin. However, based on the percentage of exogenous substance encapsulated, encapsulation appears to occur primarily by diffusion and secondarily by endocytosis.     

Inhibition and stimulation of K+ transport across the frog erythrocyte membrane by furosemide, DIOA, DIDS and quinine

Frog erythrocytes were incubated in iso- or hypotonic media containing 10 mmol/l Rb+ and 0.1 mmol/l ouabain and both Rb+ uptake and K+ loss were measured simultaneously. Rb+ uptake by frog red cells in iso- and hypotonic media was reduced by 30-60% in the presence of 0.01-0.1 mmol/l [(dihydroindenyl)oxy] alkanoic acid (DIOA) or 0.5-1.0 mmol/l furosemide. Furosemide inhibited K+ loss from frog erythrocytes incubated in hypotonic media but did not affect it in isotonic media. DIOA at a concentration of 0.05 mmol/l inhibited of K+ loss from frog erythrocytes in both iso- and hypotonic media. At the concentrations of 0.01 and 0.02 mmol/l DIOA significantly suppressed K+ loss in a K+-free chloride medium but not in a K+-free nitrate medium. The Cl(-)-dependent K+ loss was completely blocked at a concentration of 0.1 mmol/l DIOA and the concentration required for 50% inhibition of K-Cl cotransport was approximately 0.015 mmol/l. However, the inhibitory effect of DIOA on K-Cl cotransport was masked by an opposite stimulatory effect on K+ transport which was also observed in nitrate medium. Quinine in a concentration of 0.2-1.0 mmol/l was able to inhibit Rb+ uptake and K+ loss only in hypotonic media. In isotonic media, quinine produced a stimulation of Rb+ uptake and K+ loss. A three to five-fold activation of Rb+ uptake and K+ loss was consistently observed in frog erythrocytes treated with 0.05-0.2 mmol/l 4,4'-diisothiocyanatostilbene-2,2'-disulphonic acid (DIDS). In contrast, another stilbene derivative 4-acetamido-4'-isothiocyanatostilbene-2,2'-disulphonic acid (SITS) had no effect on K+ transport in the cells. Thus, of these drugs tested in the present study only DIOA at low concentrations may be considered as a selective blocker of the K-Cl cotransporter in the frog red blood cells.     

Stability of membrane pores in hypotonically dialyzed erythrocytes: coencapsulation of different stokes radius probes can occur for at least 21 days in human erythrocytes

Hypotonic dialysis of human erythrocytes results in porous cell stability for several days. Hypotonic cells stored for 1 week are essentially normal with respect to the preparation of carrier erythrocytes. Afterward, cells begin to irreversibly hemolyze resulting in decreased cell recoveries and decreased encapsulation percentages of two probes, sucrose and inulin. The holes generated by controlled hypotonic dialysis (100 mOsm/kg) are unlike the single rupture hole generated by dialysis to 10-20 mOsm/kg. The minimum pore size of resealed, annealed carrier cells is confirmed to be less than 5.2 A.     

Optimized recirculation survival of mouse carrier erythrocytes.

Carrier mouse erythrocytes prepared by a hypotonic dialysis technique and reinjected into mice have a 24 hour survival of approximately 50%. Twenty-four hour survival can be improved substantially to 74% by removing the more fragile erythrocytes by a hypotonic wash treatment. The mean cell volume of the carriers prepared by this modification is significantly (p less than 0.01) different from cells prepared by the standard method with a isotonic wash treatment. Carriers prepared by the hypotonic treatment wash modification exhibit a different 50% hemolytic value (15% difference) from isotonically prepared carriers, and normal erythrocytes. Carrier-erythrocytes removed from mice 24 hour post-injection exhibit an osmotic profile that is independent of the treatment. Carriers were also prepared by another modification of the encapsulation procedure and held in a permeable state overnight before resealing and annealing. Carriers prepared in this manner showed a much lower 24 hour survival (13%).     

Improved stability of 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate during storage of hexokinase-overloaded erythrocytes

Human red blood cells were overloaded with homogeneous human hexokinase using a procedure of encapsulation based on hypotonic hemolysis and isotonic resealing and reannealing to achieve a final activity that was 15 times higher than that in control cells. Storage for 5 weeks at 4 degrees C of hexokinase-overloaded erythrocytes shows that these cells undergo small K+ leakage and mean cell volume increase compared with control cells. Furthermore, after these 5 weeks of storage the 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate content was normal while the ATP concentration was slightly reduced. These results and other properties suggest that encapsulation of key glycolytic enzymes in erythrocytes can provide a new way to maintain in vitro functionally active red blood cells for at least 5 weeks.     

An efficient two-step method to purify very small embryonic-like (VSEL) stem cells from umbilical cord blood (UCB)

The identification in murine bone marrow (BM) of very small embryonic-like (VSEL) stem cells, possessing several features of pluripotent stem cells, encouraged us to investigate if similar population of cells could be also isolated from the human umbilical cord blood (UCB). Here our approach to purify VSEL from human UCB is described by employing a two step isolation strategy based on i) hypotonic lysis of erythrocytes followed ii) by multi-parameter FACS sorting. Accordingly, first, erythrocytes are removed from the UCB samples by hypotonic ammonium chloride solution and next, the UCB mononuclear cells (UCB MNC) are stained with monoclonal antibodies against all hematopoietic lineages including the common leukocyte antigen CD45. The cells carrying these markers (lin+CD45+) are eliminated from the sort by electronic gating. At the same time the antibodies against CXCR4, CD34 and CD133 are employed as positive markers to enrich the UCB MNC for VSEL. This combined two step approach enables to purify VSEL stem cells, which are small and express mRNA for pluripotent stem cells (PSC) (Oct-4 and Nanog) and tissue-committed stem cells (TCSC) (Nkx2.5/Csx, VE-cadherin and GFAP) similarly to those isolated from the adult BM (3-5 microm cells with large nuclei).     

Utilization of membranous lipid substrates by membranous enzymes: activation of the latent sphingomyelinase of hen erythrocyte membrane

Previous studies demonstrated that hen erythrocytes have an inoperative, latent sphingomyelinase which is activated when the cells are hemolyzed in a hypotonic medium. Within minutes after hemolysis about 60-80% of the sphingomyelin (SPM) of the RBC "ghost" membrane was hydrolyzed. In this paper, expression of sphingomyelinase activity was further investigated. The percentage of total SPM hydrolyzed depended on the volume of the hypotonic hemolyzing buffer. Thus, suspending the erythrocytes in 4 vol of the buffer resulted in clumping of the hemolyzed "ghosts" and no hydrolysis of SPM. In comparison, suspension in 19 vol of the hypotonic buffer showed no clumping and sphingomyelinase activity was fully expressed. But centrifugation of the latter or, alternatively, addition of concanavalin A induced clumping and elimination of sphingomyelinase activity. Hen RBC could also be hemolyzed in an isotonic medium in the presence of Triton X-100, mellitin, halothane, and phospholipase C. Activation of the latent sphingomyelinase occurred at concentrations of these reagents which caused cell lysis. Hen RBC were dispersed in an isotonic medium containing glutaraldehyde (0.1%) or formaldehyde (10%). This rendered the cells resistant to hemolysis, even when subsequently dispersed in a hypotonic medium or water. But incubation of the "fixed" cells in a hypotonic or isotonic medium activated the enzyme, resulting in hydrolysis of 60% of the cellular SPM. In contrast, when glutaraldehyde was included in the hypotonic buffer, hemolysis occurred but sphingomyelinase activity was eliminated.     

Effect of metabolic state on phytohemagglutinin-P agglutination of normal human erythrocytes.

A reproducible quantitative assay for the lectin-mediated agglutination of human erythrocytes, depending on different rates of settling of agglutinated and nonagglutinated erythrocytes, was developed. This assay was used to study the aggregation of human erythrocytes by phytohemagglutinin-P. The aggregation of human erythrocytes by phytohemagglutinin-P was found to depend upon the metabolic state of the cells. Metabolically depleted erythrocytes agglutinated much less readily than did similar cells supplied with adenosine. This was not due to swelling and rigidity of the cells, since erythrocytes in hypotonic solution did not exhibit significantly altered phytohemagglutinin-P agglutination. Metabolically depleted erythrocytes, or erythrocytes from blood stored 8 weeks, lysed and resealed in the presence of ATP, were agglutinated by phytohemagglutinin-P to a much greater extent than control samples without ATP. The presence of Mg2+, either alone or with ATP, had little effect on the agglutinability of the resealed membranes. Low concentrations of Ca2+ (0.2 mM) had little effect on agglutinability, although high Ca2+ (5 mM) inhibited agglutinability of the resealed membranes somewhat. Both metabolically depleted erythrocytes and depleted erythrocytes, previously treated with adenosine, when treated with trypsin released similar amounts of sialic acid. The agglutinability of the trypsinized adenosine-supplemented cells increased more readily than did that of trypsinized metabolically depleted cells. The agglutination of erythrocytes was not affected by cytochalasin B (40 mug/ml). Vinblastine (0.2 mM) caused depleted erythrocytes to agglutinate similarly to adenosine-supplemented erythrocytes, but had no effect on the agglutination of adenosine-supplemented erythrocytes. It is concluded that ATP in the human erythrocyte probably participates in the modulation of phytohemagglutinin-P agglutinability. This is not a consequence of the more rigid membrane known to accompany ATP depletion in the erythrocyte, or of the effect of ATP levels on Ca2+ or Mg2+ content. It appears likely that ATP modulates human erythrocyte phytohemagglutinin-P agglutinability through interaction, direct or indirect, with a membrane-associated component, which might also be sensitivie to vinblastine.     

A disulfide-bridge bifunctional imidoester as a reversible cross-linking reagent.

A disulfide-bridged bifunctional imidoester, dimethyl 3, 3′ dithio-bispropionimidate (DTP) has been prepared and investigated as a reagent to introduce covalent cross-links in proteins that can subsequently be broken by mild reduction. Such reversible cross-links were shown to be introduced by DTP in the soluble subunit proteins aldolase and Concanavalin A. DTP was also used to modify human intact erythrocytes. Such modification rendered the erythrocytes resistant to hypotonic lysis; subsequent treatment with mercaptoethanol lysed the cells. After DTP-modification of the cells, the hemoglobin contained in them could still be reversibly oxygenated and deoxygenated.     

Temperature dependence of membrane function. Disparity between active potassium transport and (Na+ & K+)ATPase activity.

Ouabain-sensitive K+ influx in mammalian erythrocytes exhibits far less temperature sensitivity than the ((Na+ & K+)ATPase prepared by hypotonic lysis from the same population of cells. The results are not in accord with lipid phase change as the critical mechanism of cold inhibition of intact pumps.     

In vitro and in vivo study of glutamate dehydrogenase encapsulated into mouse erythrocytes by a hypotonic dialysis procedure

Glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) has been encapsulated into mouse erythrocytes by a hypotonic dialysis/isotonic resealing method. Although a low GDH entrapment yield was achieved (3.8%), this percentage appeared sufficient enough to metabolize high quantities of ammonia. Carrier cell recovery yield was 56%. Due to the decrease in cell volume and haemoglobin content, constant mean cell haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) values were obtained. The osmotic fragility curves (OFC) indicated that dialyzed/resealed-RBCs are more resistant to hypotonic haemolysis than native-RBCs. The successful in vitro ammonia degradation by GDH-RBCs was reflected in its total disappearance from the incubation medium at around 48 h. In contrast, initial ammonia levels were not affected during the incubation in the presence of native-RBCs and remained constant. Two different methods were used for the preparation of hyperammonaemic mice model. Since the intraperitoneal (i.p.) administration of ammonium acetate produced high ammonia levels that lasted only a few minutes, the i.p. administration of urease was chosen, given that it generated elevated ammonia levels for longer periods of time. Hyperammonaemic mice quickly removed high levels of circulating ammonia in the presence of GDH-RBCs, whereas in the presence of native-RBCs ammonia was slowly metabolized. These results suggest that loaded GDH-erythrocytes can be used as a potential carrier systems for the in vivo removal of high levels of ammonia from blood.     

Human red blood cells as bioreactors for the inactivation of harmful xenobiotics

Human red blood cells are able to inactivate lipophilic electrophiles by conjugation with reduced glutathione. This metabolic ability was found to be limited by the rate of permeation of the xenobiotic into erythrocytes and by the amount of available reduced glutathione. By a procedure of hypotonic dialysis, isotonic resealing and reannealing human red blood cells were overloaded with increasing amounts of reduced glutathione up to three- to fourfold the normal level without modification of their metabolic functions or of their energetic state. These overloaded erythrocytes were able to conjugate increasing amounts of xenobiotics and to export the resulting conjugates from the cells. These properties of glutathione overloaded erythrocytes are significant for the use of carrier erythrocytes in cases of acute intoxication by lipophilic electrophiles.     

Antihemolytic effect of Rooibos tea (Aspalathus linearis) on red blood cells of Japanese quails.

The antihemolytic activity of Rooibos and black tea on Japanese quail erythrocytes was studied. Peroxide and hypotonic hemolysis of the red blood cells of quails, either fed with Rooibos tea supplemented food or fed without tea, was performed. Long-term consumption of Rooibos tea did not change the erythrocyte fragility to either peroxide or hypotonia induced hemolysis. However, Rooibos and black teas decreased peroxide induced hemolysis of erythrocytes incubated with each of them, but not hemolysis induced by hypotonic NaCl solution. Stronger inhibition of hemolysis has been obtained when a boiled water extract of Rooibos tea was used for the inhibition. The degree of inhibition was comparable with the effect of ascorbic acid.     

Effect of metabolic state on phytohemagglutinin-P agglutination of normal human erythrocytes

A reproducible quantitative assay for the lectin-mediated agglutination of human erythrocytes, depending on different rates of settling of agglutinated and non-agglutinated erythrocytes, was developed. This assay was used to study the aggregation of human erythrocytes by phytohemagglutinin-P. The aggregation of human erythrocytes by phytohemagglutinin-P was found to depend upon the metabolic state of the cells. Metabolically depleted erythrocytes agglutinated much less readily than did similar cells supplied with adenosine. this was not due to swelling and rigidity of the cells, since erythrocytes in hypotonic solution did not exhibit significantly altered phytohemagglutinin-P agglutination.Metabolically depleted erythrocytes, or erythrocytes from blood stored 8 weeks, lysed and resealed in the presence of ATP, were agglutinated by phytohemagglutinin-P to a much greater extent than control samples without ATP. The presence of Mg²⁺, either alone or with ATP, had little effect on the agglutinability of the resealed membranes. Low concentrations of Ca²⁺ (0.2 mM) had little effect on agglutinability, although high Ca²⁺ (5 mM) inhibited agglutinability of the resealed membranes somewhat.Both metabolically depleted erythrocytes and depleted erythrocytes, previously treated with adenosine, when treated with trypsin released similar amounts of sialic acid. The agglutinability of the trypsinized adenosine-supplemented cells increased more readily than did that of trypsinized metabolically depleted cells.The agglutination of erythrocytes was not affected by cytochalasin B (40 μg/ml). Vinblastine (0.2 mM) caused depleted erythrocytes to agglutinate similarly to adenosine-supplemented erythrocytes, but had no effect on the agglutination of adenosine-supplemented erythrocytes.It is concluded that ATP in the human erythrocyte probably participates in the modulation of phytohemagglutinin-P agglutinability. This is not a consequence of the more rigid membrane known to accompany ATP depletion in the erythrocyte, or of the effect of ATP levels on Ca²⁺ or Mg²⁺ content. It appears likely that ATP modulates human erythrocyte phytohemagglutinin-P agglutinability through interaction, direct or indirect, with a membrane-associated component, which might also be sensitive to vinblastine.     

大鼠红细胞作为SOD新型载体的细胞水平上的研究

用低渗透析 -等渗重封的方法制备了包埋超氧化物歧化酶 ( SOD)的大鼠载体红细胞 ,并从细胞水平上研究了透析条件对大鼠红细胞包埋 SOD的影响与载体红细胞的部分性质 .流式细胞计( FCM)研究表明 ,随透析时间延长和透析液渗透压降低 ,包埋 SOD的载体红细胞百分率升高 ,但载体细胞平均包埋 SOD的量无明显变化 ;SOD浓度对载体细胞百分率无明显影响 ,但与载体细胞平均包埋 SOD的量成线性关系 ;载体红细胞前向角散射 ( FLS)明显下降 ,但显微镜下观察到的载体细胞的大小无明显变化 ,当载体细胞反注射到大鼠体内后 FLS能迅速恢复 ;载体红细胞密度下降 ,其原因是低渗透析时红细胞膨胀未能完全恢复 ;载体红细胞未暴露与自身 Ig G结合的抗原位点 .激光扫描共聚焦显微镜 ( LSCM)分析表明 ,SOD在细胞内呈从细胞中心到细胞膜浓度逐步下降的辐射分布特征 .     

Lead effects on structural and functional cellular parameters in human red cells from a prenatal hematopoiesis stage

An attenuation (or reversion) of the prolytic effect of lead on neonatal red cells is observed in iso- or hypotonic low ionic strength media. This effect correlates neither with concomitant activation of K+ (Ca2+ or Pb2+) channels nor with volume reduction. Neonatal erythrocytes were used in this study owing to their greater cellular density, as compared with adult red cells, for the above mentioned channels. The attenuation-reversion effect would be mediated through lead interactions with the cytoskeleton, a structure that is the limiting factor for red cell lysis in low ionic strength media.     

Purification of alpha-toxin from Staphylococcus aureus and application to cell permeabilization

Crude alpha-toxin was produced by Staphylococcus aureus, strain Wood 46. The amount of exotoxin was monitored during growth and all subsequent purification steps by determination of its hemolytic activity against rabbit erythrocytes. The culture supernatant was treated with ammonium sulfate (75% saturation). The resulting precipitate was dialyzed and subjected to cation-exchange chromatography. The fractions containing the hemolytic activity were further purified by gel chromatography. The final product was enriched by a factor of 8.5 compared to the crude toxin. In sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis the purified toxin exhibited one major band. It caused the release of 86Rb+ and ATP from rat insulinoma (RIN A2) as well as pheochromocytoma cells (PC12) in culture, indicating efficient permeabilization of their plasma membranes for small molecules.     

Delivery to Macrophages of Interleukin 3 Loaded in Mouse Erythrocytes

Mouse carrier erythrocytes containing ¹²⁵I-interleukin 3 have been prepared and treated with band 3 crosslinking reagents. The incorporation of interleukin 3 by hypotonic treatment into mouse erythrocytes reached levels of about 15% of the interleukin 3 added to the medium being predominantly present in the cytosolic fraction (73%). Uptake fell to about 7.4% when using the same conditions but omitting hypotonic shock. The interaction of band 3 crosslinked interleukin 3 loaded erythrocytes with macrophages was also studied. A high level of incorporation of interleukin 3 into macrophages was observed either from band 3 crosslinked, interleukin 3-loaded erythrocytes or from interleukin 3 loaded erythrocytes. The observations encourage the view that the system may be able to deliver and target cytokines and other growth factors to macrophages.