Further Studies on Regulation of Betacyanin efflux from Beetroot Tissue Ca‐Ion‐Reversible Effects of Hydrochloric Acid and Ammonia Water

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Abstract
The Ca‐ion‐reversible effects of aqucous NH3 and HCL on betacyanin leakage from beetroot sections were studied as simple models for complex polycations such as polylysines.— From kinetic evidence, the competitive character of Ca‐ion antagonism in all these cases, and general chemical arguments, it is suggested that ammonia, hydrogen chloride and polylysine all act as osurees of [H H2O]+ which can compete with Ca‐ion for electronegative sites on the membrane. The Ca‐reversibility of alcohol‐induced leakage is then explained as a lowering of diclectric constant at the membrane resulting in reduced charge at electronegative sites with concomitant loss of ion binding capacity. Biological illustration of the antagonism between Ca‐ion and ammonia, and of H‐ion dependent NaCl sensitivity are presented.