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Electrical stability of erythrocytes in the presence of divalent cations
T C Tomov1, I C Tsoneva, J C Doncheva
1Central Laboratory of Biophysics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia.
Bioscience Reports
|October 1, 1988
Abstract:
Erythrocytes suspended in a medium of low ionic strength lyse under the effect of an exponential electrical pulse. The percentage of haemolysed cells decreases several-fold in the presence of divalent cations. The protective action of the ions studied increases in the following order: Ca++, Mg++, Zn++. It is assumed that divalent ions bind to the negative charges of the lipid and protein molecules and reduce their electrostatic repulsion, which results in stabilization of the membranes.