Red cell metabolism affects lactate and pyruvate partition across the plasma membrane

The influence on red cell metabolism of increasing the glucose concentration or the pH of the medium has been examined in order to compare the modification of the lactate/pyruvate ratio inside and outside the cell. In both situations, we evidenced a constancy in the intracellular lactate/pyruvate ratio and an increase in the extracellular one, thus suggesting that the cell efficiently opposes cytoplasmic modifications. In fact an increase of lactate efflux takes place when the intracellular pyruvate decreases. The implications of these changes in the two compartments are discussed on the basis of the available results.     

Rapid Purification of Glucose-6-phosphate Dehydrogenase from Mammal's Erythrocytes

A procedure for rapid purification to homogeneity of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6pD) is herein presented. Our method is not new, but represents a simplification of the method of De Flora et al. (Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 169, 362–3, 1975) which consisted of three steps: DEAE-Sephadex, phosphocellulose (P11) and affinity chromatography on 2′5′ ADP-Sepharose. These authors eluted the enzyme from the P11 with phosphate and from 2′5′ ADP-Sepharose with KC1 and NADP.

By our method, the DEAE-Sephadex step is omitted, the G6PD is eluted from P11 with citrate and NADP, and from 2′5′ ADP-Sepharose with KC1, NADP and EDTA. The elution of the enzyme from the phosphocellulose was studied in detail and the temperature effect has been described. We report here an application of this method to a rapid microscale purification starting from 3.5–4 ml of rabbit blood, which can be performed in about 8 hours and a macro-scale purification starting from 180–200 ml of human blood, which takes a day and a half.     

Vanadate affects glucose metabolism of human erythrocytes

Vanadate causes a rapid breakdown of 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate in intact erythrocytes. This metabolite is nearly stoichiometrically transformed into pyruvate, which changes the cell redox state and enhances the glycolytic flux. The results show that the vanadate effect on 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate, also evident in hemolysates, is attributable to the stimulation of a phosphatase activity of the phosphoglycerate mutase. In agreement with others (J. Carreras, F. Climent, R. Bartrons and G. Pons (1982) Biochim. Biophys. Acta705, 238–242), vanadate is thought to destabilize the phosphoryl form of this enzyme which shows competitive inhibition between the ion and 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate in the mutase reaction. A competitive inhibition between vanadate and glucose 1,6-bisphosphate is also found for phosphoglucomutase, without evidence for phosphatase activity toward the bisphosphate cofactor.     

The relevance of glucose 1,6-bisphosphate formation and degradation to human red blood cell metabolism

In human erythrocytes, in the absence of specific enzymes, G1,6P2 synthesis and degradation are carried out by phosphoglucomutase PGM2 isoenzymes. The results presented, obtained by using partially purified preparations of these enzyme forms, suggest that erythrocyte G1,6P2 may play a crucial role in the physiological interconversion of several important sugar monophosphates.     

Glucose-1,6-P2 synthesis, phosphoglucomutase and phosphoribomutase correlate with glucose-1,6-P2 concentration in mammals red blood cells

Glucose 1,6-biphosphate (G1,6P2) was measured in human, pig, cow, rabbit, rat and sheep red blood cells. Mean values are variable among the species and range from 33 to 122 nmol/ml RBC for pig and rabbit erythrocytes, respectively. The activities of G1,6P2 synthase, phosphoglucomutase (PGM) and phosphoribomutase (PRM) have also been assayed in red cell haemolysates of the same species. The correlations between the biphosphate content and the occurrence of the three enzymatic activities have been studied in order to gain an insight into the regulation of the G1,6P2 turnover in mammalian erythrocytes.