Abstract
The inward transport of potassium by separated dog erythrocytes has been studied at concentrations of potassium in the medium from 2.9 to 25.0 m.eq./liter and at 38.0 and 33.0°C. At the physiological concentration of external potassium (4.06 m.eq./liter medium), the inward potassium flux is 0.11 m.eq./liter cells hour and the glucose consumption is 2.0 mM/liter cells hour. The dependence of potassium influx on extracellular potassium concentration is given by the following equation, K influx (m.eq./liter cells hour) = 0.028 [K]amb. – 0.003 in which [K]amb. refers to the potassium concentration in the medium. In a single 93 hour experiment, 94 per cent of the intracellular potassium was exchanged at an apparently uniform rate. The average apparent activation energy for the process is 7,750 calories ± 2,000 calories/mol and there is some indication that the apparent activation energy of inward K transport decreases with increasing external K concentration.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (567.1 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Davson H., Danielli J. F. Studies on the permeability of erythrocytes: Factors in cation permeability. Biochem J. 1938 Jun;32(6):991–1001. doi: 10.1042/bj0320991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- RAKER J. W., TAYLOR I. M., WELLER J. M., HASTINGS A. B. Rate of potassium exchange of the human erythrocyte. J Gen Physiol. 1950 Jul 20;33(6):691–702. doi: 10.1085/jgp.33.6.691. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- SHEPPARD C. W., MARTIN W. R., BEYL G. Cation exchange between cells and plasma of mammalian blood. II. Sodium and potassium exchange in the sheep, dog, cow, and man and the effect of varying the plasma potassium concentration. J Gen Physiol. 1951 Mar 20;34(4):411–429. doi: 10.1085/jgp.34.4.411. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- WELLER J. M., TAYLOR I. M. Rate of potassium exchange in the rat erythrocyte. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med. 1951 Dec;78(3):780–782. doi: 10.3181/00379727-78-19216. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]