The Volume of the Erythrocytes at Different Osmotic Pressure. Further Experiments on the Influence of Lead on the Permeability of Cations

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Abstract
Summary.: It is demonstrated as by other authors that the volume of the erythrocytes does not follow Boyle‐Mariotte's law. At hypotonic pressure the discrepancy is not considerable, but at hypertonic pressure it corresponds to 15–20 % of the cell water being “bound”.The diffusion through the cell membrane of potassium, sodium and phosphate during the experiment is insignificant. The haematocrit values obtained are very reproduceable.The intercellular fluid of the centrifuged blood cell mass is 1.7–3.8 % in normal blood, in hypotonic solutions it decreases and in hypertonic solutions it increases.It was formerly shown by the author that lead makes the erythrocytes permeable to potassium. It is now shown that sodium can permeate as well, and that the two substances permeate with the same velocity. The potassium loss of the erythrocytes make them shrink considerably, and the haemoglobin concentration increases.The osmotic pressure of the serum water and the cell water in normal blood and blood that has been poisoned is determined by K, Na, Cl and HCO3analysis. An excess of ions is found in serum and this is increased by lead poisoning, and more than the amount of cell water is decreased indicating that the higher haemoglobin concentration increases the “bound” water.In order to explain the problem of “bound” water 4 hypotheses are advanced and discussed.

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