K-Na EXGHANGE ACCOMPANYING T H E PROLYTIC LOSS OF K FROM HUMAN RED CELLS BY ERIC PONDER

This paper will amplify the description of the prolytic loss of K from human erythrocytes (Ponder, 1947 a) by adding a description of the behavior of the cells with respect to Na, the other important cation of the system. The movement of Na has not received much attention in the systems in which a prolytic loss of K has been shown to occur (lysis of rabbit red ceils by saponin and several other lysins, Davson and Danielli, 1938; lysis of rabbit red cells by rose bengal, Davson and Ponder, 1940; and lysis of the red cells of several mammals by hypotonic saline, Davson, 1937). The loss of K from rabbit red cells into hypotonic NaC1 has been described as being virtually unaccompanied by a movement of Na in the opposite direction (Davson, 1937), but it willappear below that a relatively large amount of Na enters human red cells when the prolytic loss of K is brought about by lysins such as sodium taurocholate and by sphering agents such as distearyl lecithin.