A comparison of effect of temperature on phosphorus metabolites, pH and Mg2+ in human and ground squirrel red cells

1. 31P NMR spectra were obtained at temperatures ranging from 2 to 30 degrees C from freshly drawn human (cold-sensitive) and ground squirrel (cold-tolerant) red cells. The concentration of ATP was also determined by luciferin-luciferase assay over the same temperature range. 2. The concentration of ATP as determined by NMR or by the luciferin-luciferase assay did not change with temperature in either species. The absolute concentration of ATP in human cells determined by NMR was not significantly different from the total ATP determined enzymatically. 3. The concentration of 2,3-diphosphoglycerate was higher and that of pyridine nucleotides lower in human than in ground squirrel red cells. This species difference was independent of temperature. 4. Intracellular pH, as determined from the positions of the NMR peaks of 2- and 3-phosphates of diphosphoglycerate, became more alkaline as the temperature was lowered. 5. Free intracellular magnesium, determined from the difference in the positions of the peaks for alpha- and beta-phosphorus of ATP, increased in the ground squirrel red cells and decreased in the human red cells with cooling from 30 to 2 degrees C. Total magnesium, as determined by atomic emission spectroscopy, did not change with temperature in red cells of either species. 6. The intensities of all phosphorus metabolite signals from the ground squirrel cells increased with decreasing temperature, while those from the human cells were unaffected. Since chemical shift anisotropy in the presence of magnesium is a powerful spin-lattice relaxation mechanism for phosphates, this is additional evidence for the temperature dependence of free magnesium concentration in the ground squirrel cells. 7. We conclude that there is no difference in phosphorus metabolites or intracellular pH which could account for the differential cold sensitivity in human and ground squirrel red cells. We suggest that, in the cold-tolerant red cells from the ground squirrel, magnesium is released from binding sites as the temperature is lowered. The change in free intracellular Mg2+ may account at least in part for the unusually low temperature sensitivity of the Na(+)-K+ pump in the red cells of this species.