Effects on red blood cell choline transport induced by different sulfhydryl compounds

The uptake of choline was studied in different types of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH)-like RBC obtained from normal human erythrocytes by the action of different sulfhydryl compounds. The results were compared with the uptake of choline in true PNH cells and in normal reticulocytes. The PNH-like cells which better mimicked true PNH were those prepared using acetylcysteine. Indeed these erythrocytes displayed a capacity to incorporate choline against a concentration gradient exactly as PNH cells exposed to either acetylcholine or choline. The uptake of choline by by the other PNH-like cells differed from that of PNH erythrocytes in several ways. The results suggest that every sulfhydryl compound induces a different damage on RBC membrane.