The influence of pH and temperature on some physical properties of normal erythrocytes and erythrocytes from patients with hereditary spherocytosis.

Abstract

Abstract The influence of pH and temperature on the volume and surface area of erythrocytes and the relationship of volume and surface area changes to rheological properties of erythrocytes were studied. Contrary to previous studies, temperature was found to influence the surface area of the membrane and not the volume of cells. pH influenced both the volume of cells and the surface area of the membrane. The effects of pH and temperature on various kinds of osmotic lysis were observed as a means of estimating the surface area of the cell membrane. Changes in surface area to volume relationships altered viscosity and filterability of erythrocytes. The viscosity of normal blood was increased when pH was lowered from 8.0 to 6.8, and the filterability of normal erythrocytes was decreased with similar pH changes. Blood from patients with hereditary spherocytosis showed a greater increase in viscosity and a marked decrease in filterability at the lower pH levels as compared to normal erythrocytes. These differences for hereditary spherocytes suggest that the mechanism of splenic sequestration in hereditary spherocytosis is due to the abnormal rigidity or decreased deformability of the spherocyte at pH's less than 7.4.