[Kinetics of acid hemolysis in an isotonic sugar medium]

The kinetics of acid hemolysis of human erythrocytes suspended in isotonic sucrose media was investigated. Three successive changes on the curve of the suspension extinction derivative were discriminated and characterized as changes due to morphological transformation, swelling and lysis of the cells. The change due to the reversible morphological transformation could develop in two opposite directions depending on some conditions. The cell swelling was apparently induced by the protonization of hemoglobin with protons entering through the cell membrane. The phases of cell swelling and lysis partly covered each other by isotonicity, but at higher tonicities they were completely separated. These results demonstrate the increased informability of the method applied under such conditions.