STUDIES ON THE TERMINAL STAGES OF IMMUNE HEMOLYSIS .6. OSMOTIC BLOCKERS OF DIFFERING STOKES RADII DETECT COMPLEMENT-INDUCED TRANSMEMBRANE CHANNELS OF DIFFERING SIZE

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  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 123  (1) , 77-82
Abstract
0.1 M EDTA could be used to distinguish functionally different transmembrane channels produced during complement-(C) mediated hemolysis of E*. The ability of sugars of varying Stokes'' radii to prevent Hb release from E* [E with at least 1 cell bound antigen-antibody complex and all the necessary C killing to occur] intermediates whose lysis was inhibitable or not inhibitable by EDTA. On the basis of these experiments, the inhibition of E* transformation by high molarity EDTA may occur by virtue of the size of the EDTA molecule in solution. Studies on the effect of EDTA on red cell lysis induced by polyene antibiotics that form transmembrane channels of a defined size supported this conclusion. The EDTA inhibitable lesion on E* has a smaller effective radius than the noninhibitable lesion. The effective radius of the smallest lesion that yields a lytic site was less than 3.6 .ANG.. The lesions produced in the red cell membrane by C are not uniform but vary in size depending on the C9 to SAC1-8 [the number of hemolytically effective sites on antibody-sensitized E with C1-8] ratio used to produce E*.