Photohemolysis sensitized by deuteroporphyrin-IX derivatives: determination of binding strength of dyes to erythrocytes

A comparative analysis of the ability of 4-(1-methyl-3-hydroxybutyl)-deuteroporphyrin-IX (I) and 2,4-di-(1-methyl-3-hydroxybutyl)-deuteroporphyrin-IX (II) to photosensitize hemolysis of human erythrocytes was performed. The photohemolytic efficiency of dye I was shown to be about 60 times higher than that of dye II. It was found that a part of each dye tightly binds to erythrocyte membranes and is not removed by washing. A method for estimating the share of the dye tightly bound to the membrane (beta) was proposed, which takes into account the shielding effect produced by the free dye and the photohemolytic efficiency of the bound dye. It was shown that the beta values for dyes I and II are 86 and 61% and correlate with the coefficients of distribution of the dyes in the octanol/water system (20.7 and 17.0, respectively).