Mechanism of hemolysis after intravenous glycerol administration

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Abstract
Concentrated glycerol solutions in 0.9% saline, when administered intravenously to rabbits and rats, caused considerable intravascular hemolysis, but similar solutions given to dogs had no hemolytic effect. Perfusion of the partially isolated hind leg of the rabbit with Cr51-tagged and glycerol-containing red cell suspensions showed hemolysis of only those cells containing glycerol. This observation eliminates a hemolysin as the cause for the hemolysis. In vitro experiments showed that glycerol penetrates the erythrocytes of rats, rabbits and man quite rapidly, whereas the cells of dogs were penetrated at a much slower rate. It is suggested that the intravascular hemolysis caused by intravenous glycerol is produced by the rapid uptake of glycerol by the erythrocytes and a subsequent osmotic imbalance caused by the rapid decrease of glycerol concentration in the circulating plasma. It is proposed that this mechanism is a general one and explains, for example, the intravascular hemolysis caused by the intravenous injection of hyperosmotic urea dissolved in 0.9% saline.