| Abstract: | Based primarily on studies of human erythrocytes, current theories of the structure and organization of erythrocyte membrane localize spectrin to the membrane cytoplasmic surface. Affinity purified anti-sheep spectrin antibodies were used in indirect immunofluorescence studies of intact erythrocytes from various vertebrate species and inside-out and right-side-out impermeable sheep erythrocyte vesicles. This investigation detected immunologically reactive external and potentially transmembranal determinant(s) of the sheep erythrocyte spectrin "assembly." Parallel studies using anti-sheep and anti-human spectrin antibodies, as well as 125I surface-labelling studies of intact sheep and human erythrocytes, indicated that this particular membrane orientation of spectrin was evident in sheep but not in human erythrocytes. Antisera containing antibodies to the external portion of this spectrin "assembly" demonstrated external fluorescence to a variable degree on some, but not all, vertebrate erythrocytes surveyed, confirming that the sheep erythrocyte was not the only exception. It is suggested that there may be subtle species variability in the intermolecular associations of the spectrin "assembly" with(in) the erythrocyte membrane not requiring alterations of the spectrin molecule itself. |
