DRUG-INDUCED ENDOCYTOSIS OF NEONATAL ERYTHROCYTES

  • 1 January 1985
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 65  (5) , 1056-1063
Abstract
The erythrocytes of the newborn infant have many properties that distinguish them from those of adults, and their membranes are also different from those of adult erythrocytes. The ability of adult and neonatal RBC [red blood cells] to undergo endocytosis on exposure to drugs. Using a quantitative method, it was showed that neonatal erythrocytes undergo a greater degree of endocytosis than do adult RBC in response to primaquine, vinblastine and chlorpromazine, and are sensitive to lower concentrations of the drugs. Some forms of drug-induced endocytosis are red cell age-dependent; when RBC were separated by density gradient centrifugation, the membranes of the younger, less dense populations of both the neonatal and adult RBC were capable of more extensive internalization than those of the denser, older RBC. Neonatal RBC of a given density undergo more endocytosis than do adult RBC of the same density, suggesting that the membrane of the neonatal RBC is less stable and capable of more of the reorganization reflected in endocytosis than is the adult RBC membrane.