title: Resistance of red blood cell membrane to oxygen uptake.
abstract: The apparent association velocity constant (k'c) was determined before and after disruption of the red blood cell membrane in one of several ways: 1) radiation of the cells using a 137Cs source did not significantly alter k'c (95 +/- 39.3 and 118 +/- 35.5 mM-1.s-1), 2) incubation of the cells with sialidase produced no change in k'c (112 +/- 42.6 and 123 +/- 46.8 mM-1.s-1), 3) using papain for the incubation similarly produced no significant alteration in k'c (94 +/- 21.2 and 113 +/- 51.8 mM-1.s-1), 4) a radiomimetic agent p-chloromercuribenzene sulfonate likewise produced no significant alteration in k'c (128 +/- 16.3 and 122 +/- 3.5 mM-1.s-1), and 5) employing phospholipase C to disrupt the membrane k'c did not significantly change (115 +/- 15.3 and 112 +/- 8.7 mM-1.s-1). We conclude that either O2 traverses the membrane in a manner uninfluenced by the manipulations here employed, or that the membrane offers no significant resistance to the speed of O2 uptake.
mesh_terms: D004910:Erythrocyte Membrane / Q000378:metabolism*; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D006454:Hemoglobins; D010100:Oxygen