Morphological response of erythrocytes on changes of electrolyte content of the medium. II. Effect of anion transport inhibitors

Abstract

The effect of anion transport inhibitors DIDS, SITS and DNDS on dynamic of erythrocyte shape changes in sucrose media with low content of chloride ions was studied. It was shown that DIDS and SITS acted similarly though the several times more concentration of DIDS was required to produce the same effect. Both agents affect typical three phase shape response of cells in concentration-dependent manner initially eliminating second and third phases and finally stabilizing the first sphere-like phase. The latter is characterized by low value of shape index which is formed immediately after cell transfer into nonelectrolyte media in the presence of inhibitors. Microscopic analysis confirms that spherostomatocytes are formed at this stage of shape transformation. In contrast, when the same amount of inhibitor was added to the media in 150 s after cell transfer there was an increase in shape index which reflected cell flattening. The effect of DNDS was different from that of DIDS and SITS. DNDS did not affect cell shape when it was added in 150 s after cell transfer. If DNDS was initially present in the media the duration of all phases in shape response sequence is increased with the increasing inhibitor concentration. The data obtained show that morphological transformation of cells in nonelectrolyte media depends significantly not on only the functional state of the system of anion transport but also on detailed chemical nature of inhibitor.