Lytic effect of heparin on liposomes: possible mechanism of lysis of red blood cells by heparin

Abstract

Heparin [an anticoagulant] causes lysis of the multilamellar liposomes of all 3 charges, positive, neutral and negative, and releases the entrapped [3H]glucose or chromate. The lytic effect of heparin is also observed in liposomes prepared from the lipids extracted from human red blood cells. Heparin interacts with the phospholipid bilayers, which suggests that the reported lytic effect of heparin on the red blood cells may be mediated through the membrane phospholipid components of these cells.