Skip to main content
PMC home page
The Journal of General Physiology logoLink to The Journal of General Physiology
. 1971 Sep 1;58(3):259–266. doi: 10.1085/jgp.58.3.259

Tracer Determinations of Human Red Cell Membrane Permeability to Small Nonelectrolytes

David Savitz 1,2, A K Solomon 1,2
PMCID: PMC2226028  PMID: 5095678

Abstract

A flow system has been used to determine the permeability of human red cell membranes to four small nonelectrolytes labeled with 14C. The permeability coefficients, ω, in units of mol dyne-1 sec-1 x 1015, are: ethylene glycol, 6; urea, 13; formamide, 22; and methanol, 131. The values for urea and formamide are in good agreement with values obtained by Sha'afi, Gary-Bobo, and Solomon by the minimum method. The unusually high value for ω for methanol is ascribed to its solubility in the red cell membrane since its ether: water partition coefficient is 0.14, higher by more than an order of magnitude than the ether: water partition coefficient for water. The other three solutes are hydrophilic and are characterized by values of ω which behave consistently with those of other hydrophilic amides and ureas. The values of ω for the three hydrophilic solutes measured are also consistent with an equivalent pore radius of about 3.5 A in agreement with previous estimates made on the basis of other types of studies.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (398.8 KB).

Selected References

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

  1. Curran P. F., Taylor A. E., Solomon A. K. Tracer diffusion and unidirectional fluxes. Biophys J. 2008 Dec 31;7(6):879–901. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(67)86627-X. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. GOLDSTEIN D. A., SOLOMON A. K. Determination of equivalent pore radius for human red cells by osmotic pressure measurement. J Gen Physiol. 1960 Sep;44:1–17. doi: 10.1085/jgp.44.1.1. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. PAGANELLI C. V., SOLOMON A. K. The rate of exchange of tritiated water across the human red cell membrane. J Gen Physiol. 1957 Nov 20;41(2):259–277. doi: 10.1085/jgp.41.2.259. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. RENKIN E. M. Filtration, diffusion, and molecular sieving through porous cellulose membranes. J Gen Physiol. 1954 Nov 20;38(2):225–243. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. SOLOMON A. K. The kinetics of biological processes; special problems connected with the use of tracers. Adv Biol Med Phys. 1953;3:65–97. doi: 10.1016/b978-1-4831-9926-9.50006-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Sha'afi R. I., Rich G. T., Mikulecky D. C., Solomon A. K. Determination of urea permeability in red cells by minimum method. A test of the phenomenological equations. J Gen Physiol. 1970 Apr;55(4):427–450. doi: 10.1085/jgp.55.4.427. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Sha'afi R. I., Rich G. T., Sidel V. W., Bossert W., Solomon A. K. The effect of the unstirred layer on human red cell water permeability. J Gen Physiol. 1967 May;50(5):1377–1399. doi: 10.1085/jgp.50.5.1377. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Solomon A. K. Characterization of biological membranes by equivalent pores. J Gen Physiol. 1968 May 1;51(5):335–364. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Vieira F. L., Sha'afi R. I., Solomon A. K. The state of water in human and dog red cell membranes. J Gen Physiol. 1970 Apr;55(4):451–466. doi: 10.1085/jgp.55.4.451. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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

RESOURCES