ON BIMOLECULAR LAYERS OF LIPOIDS ON THE CHROMOCYTES OF THE BLOOD

TLDR

The study examined blood from humans and several mammals, reporting experimental results while excluding data lost during acetone evaporation. The data show that although red blood cell sizes vary widely among species, the overall chromocyte surface area remains similar because smaller cells are more numerous, supporting the hypothesis that chromocytes are coated with a bilayer of lipids.

Abstract

We have examined the blood of man and of the rabbit, dog, guinea pig, sheep, and goat. There exists a great difference in the size of the red blood cells of these animals, but the total surfaces of the chromocytes See PDF for Structure from 0.1 cc. blood do not show a similarly great divergence, because animals having very small cells (goat and sheep) have much greater quantities of these cells in their blood than animals with blood cells of larger dimensions (dog and rabbit). We give all the results of our experiments, omitting only those in which we were unable to avoid losses in the procedure of evaporation of the acetone. It is clear that all our results fit in well with the supposition that the chromocytes are covered by a layer of fatty substances that is two molecules thick.