Adsorption hemolysis

Abstract

This report concerns the mechanism of action of certain hemolytic agents which have the property of lowering surface tension, examples of which are castor oil soap and saponin. These belong to a general class of substances which reduce the surface tension of their solutions according to the formula

In these preliminary investigations erythrocytes from sheep have been placed in normal salt solutions containing known concentrations of the hemolytic substance, the time of hemolysis being carefully measured by means of a stop watch and a well defined end point. The surface tensions of solutions of hemolytic substance in the concentrations used were also measured. It was found, as is evident from the formula, that as the concentrations of hemolytic substance increased, the surface tension of the solution dropped from that of the pure solvent to the value always obtained for a very concentrated solution of the substance.

It has been observed that as the concmtration of the hemolytic stlbstance increased, the time of hemolysis decreased until it reached a fairly constant value. The significant observation is that the time of hemolysis and the surface tension reach a fairly constant value at the same concentration of hemolytic substance. As the surface tension is dependent upoil surface concentration we may say that the time of heinolysis decreases as long as the surface can adsorb more hemolytic agent, and that when the surface is relatively saturated the time of hemolysis is no longer decreased by a further increase in solution concentration. Thus, it would appear that hemolysis by these agents is concerned with surface concentration rather than with solution concentration. If we assume that the time of hernolysis is inversely proportional to the surface adsorption the time of hemolysis can be expressed by the equation