Skip to main content
The Journal of General Physiology logoLink to The Journal of General Physiology
. 1967 Dec 1;50(11):2513–2525. doi: 10.1085/jgp.50.11.2513

The Effect of Valinomycin on Potassium and Sodium Permeability of HK and LK Sheep Red Cells

Daniel C Tosteson 1, P Cook 1, Thomas Andreoli 1, M Tieffenberg 1
PMCID: PMC2225671  PMID: 4230916

Abstract

A cyclic depsipeptide antibiotic, valinomycin, was found to produce increased selective permeability of the plasma membranes of HK and LK sheep red blood cells to potassium but not to sodium ions. The compound had relatively little effect on the active extrusion of sodium from HK sheep red blood cells or on the Na + K-stimulated ATPase activity of membranes derived from these cells. It is proposed that the selective cation permeability produced by this compound depends primarily on steric factors, particularly the relationship between the diameter of the ring and the effective diameter of the ion. The significance of these results for the problem of the mechanism of ionic selectivity in natural membranes is discussed.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (781.5 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Andreoli T. E., Tieffenberg M., Tosteson D. C. The effect of valinomycin on the ionic permeability of thin lipid membranes. J Gen Physiol. 1967 Dec;50(11):2527–2545. doi: 10.1085/jgp.50.11.2527. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. CHAPPELL J. B., CROFTS A. R. GRAMICIDIN AND ION TRANSPORT IN ISOLATED LIVER MITOCHONDRIA. Biochem J. 1965 May;95:393–402. doi: 10.1042/bj0950393. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Graven S. N., Lardy H. A., Johnson D., Rutter A. Antibiotics as tools for metabolic studies. V. Effect of nonactin, monactin, dinactin, and trinactin on oxidative phosphorylation and adenosine triphosphatase induction. Biochemistry. 1966 May;5(5):1729–1735. doi: 10.1021/bi00869a040. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. MACDONALD J. C. Biosynthesis of valinomycin. Can J Microbiol. 1960 Feb;6:27–34. doi: 10.1139/m60-005. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Pressman B. C. Induced active transport of ions in mitochondria. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1965 May;53(5):1076–1083. doi: 10.1073/pnas.53.5.1076. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. TOSTESON D. C., HOFFMAN J. F. Regulation of cell volume by active cation transport in high and low potassium sheep red cells. J Gen Physiol. 1960 Sep;44:169–194. doi: 10.1085/jgp.44.1.169. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Tosteson D. C., Cook P., Blount R. Separation of adenosine triphosphatase of HK and LK sheep red cell membranes by density gradient centrifugation. J Gen Physiol. 1965 Jul;48(6):1125–1143. doi: 10.1085/jgp.48.6.1125. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Vreman H. J., Jöbsis F. F. Interference by mannitol and other compounds with phosphate determinations. Anal Biochem. 1966 Oct;17(1):108–118. doi: 10.1016/0003-2697(66)90013-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Journal of General Physiology are provided here courtesy of The Rockefeller University Press

RESOURCES