PROPERTIES OF RED CELL SURFACES INFLUENCING ROULEAU FORMATION

Abstract

Red cells take the following descending order with respect to their sinking velocities in 1% gelatin at pH 7.4; dog, horse, human, cat, rat, beef and rabbit. The greater the sinking velocity the greater the electrophoretic mobility and the lower the isoelectric point. The mobility data, supported by extraction data, indicate that the lipid/protein proportion varies with species, being high with horse and dog cells, low with beef and rabbit. Since the cells with the higher mobilities show the greater aggregation, electrostatic repulsion is not the predominant factor in determining stability in 1% gelatin. The findings indicate that the free surface energy at the cell-medium interface is the determining factor. This in turn is detd. largely by the degree of surface hydration, which is detd. by the chemical structure of the cell surface.[long dash]H. L. White and B. Monaghan.