Amino acid transport via the red cell anion transport system

Evidence is presented that the red cell anion-exchange transporter (Band 3) can selectively transport small neutral amino acids, including glycine, serine and cysteine, but not alanine, proline, valine and threonine. This transport is inhibited by micromolar concentrations of SITS (4-acetamido-4'-isothiocyanostilbene-2,2'-disulphonate), and increased by raising the pH from 6.5 to 8.5.