AGGLUTINATION OF STORED ERYTHROCYTES BY A HUMAN SERUM. CHARACTERIZATION OF THE SERUM FACTOR AND ERYTHROCYTE CHANGES*

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Abstract
This report describes in detail the properties of a pathologic human serum which caused agglutination of human red cells after they had been stored, but failed to affect fresh red cells. The responsible factor in the patient''s serum was shown to be a gamma macroglobulin. Activity was irreversibly destroyed by treating the serum with disulfide splitting reagents; SH-binding reagents caused inhibition of agglutinating activity, reversible following dialysis to remove the reagents. By a variety of biochemical tests it was shown that the development of agglutinability by red cells during storage was related to alteration in their energy metabolism. This alteration was unrelated to the erythrocytes'' chronological age. A close, but not absolute parallel was demonstrated between agglutinability and non-viability of the red cells.