Abstract
Summary
The osmotic fragility of human erythrocytes was analyzed with a recording Fragilograph after incubation with known amounts of lead or mercury. Incubation with lead produced two populations of red cells, one osmotically fragile and the other osmotically resistant. Mercury (10-4 to 10-6 M Hg), unlike lead, caused an overall increase in osmotic fragility. With lead an osmotically resistant population of erythrocytes developed after 1 hr incubation with 0.7 to 1.0 × 10-4 M Pb (1500 to 2000 μg Pb/100 ml), after 2 hr with 0.3 × 10-4 M Pb (800 μg Pb/100 ml), but did not appear until 24 hr incubation with 10-5 M Pb (200 μg Pb/100 ml). The gradual development of an osmotically resistant population of erythrocytes with lead, but not with mercury, indicates different modes of interaction of these two ions with the red cell membrane and contents.
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