Skip to main content
NCBI home page
The Journal of Clinical Investigation logoLink to The Journal of Clinical Investigation
. 1972 Feb;51(2):338–344. doi: 10.1172/JCI106819

Changes in Fatty Acid Metabolism after Erythrocyte Peroxidation: Stimulation of a Membrane Repair Process

Bertram H Lubin 1,2, Stephen B Shohet 1,2, David G Nathan 1,2
PMCID: PMC302132  PMID: 5009118

Abstract

To study certain membrane repair processes in human erythrocytes, vitamin E-deficient cells were incubated with hydrogen peroxide. The incorporation of exogenous fatty acid and the transfer of fatty acid from phosphatidylcholine and neutral lipid into phosphatidylethanolamine were examined using radioactive fatty acids.

Hydrogen peroxide stimulated the incorporation of fatty acid into all membrane phospholipids. The specific activity of phosphatidylethanolamine was increased disproportionately.

The lipids of the membranes of erythrocytes were labeled with saturated and unsaturated fatty acid. When these erythrocytes were subsequently incubated with hydrogen peroxide, both types of fatty acid were transferred from superficial erythrocyte neutral lipids into phosphatidylethanolamine. However, the unsaturated fatty acids of phosphatidylethanolamine were subsequently altered by hydrogen peroxide, whereas the saturated fatty acids were not. The cumulative effect of these processes was a relative decrease in unsaturated fatty acid and an increase in saturated fatty acid in the phosphatidylethanolamine of the erythrocyte membrane.

The net effect of these events represents the operation of repair processes which distort the usual fatty acid composition of erythrocyte membranes in the presence of H2O2. This distortion may contribute to membrane permeability changes which occur during peroxide exposure and which precede the eventual hemolysis of these cells.

Full text

PDF
338

Images in this article

340Image
on p.340
340Image
on p.340

Selected References

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

  1. BUHLER D. R. A simple scintillation counting technique for assaying C1402 in a Warburg flask. Anal Biochem. 1962 Nov;4:413–417. doi: 10.1016/0003-2697(62)90143-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Chen R. F. Removal of fatty acids from serum albumin by charcoal treatment. J Biol Chem. 1967 Jan 25;242(2):173–181. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Dodge J. T., Cohen G., Kayden H. J., Phillips G. B. Peroxidative hemolysis of red blood cells from patients with abetalipoproteinemia (acanthocytosis). J Clin Invest. 1967 Mar;46(3):357–368. doi: 10.1172/JCI105537. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Dodge J. T., Phillips G. B. Composition of phospholipids and of phospholipid fatty acids and aldehydes in human red cells. J Lipid Res. 1967 Nov;8(6):667–675. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Dormandy T. L. Biological rancidification. Lancet. 1969 Sep 27;2(7622):684–688. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(69)90390-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. FILER L. J., Jr, WRIGHT S. W., MANNING M. P., MASON K. E. Absorption of alpha-tocopherol and tocopherylesters by premature and full term infants and children in health and disease. Pediatrics. 1951 Sep;8(3):328–339. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Jacob H. S., Lux S. E., 4th Degradation of membrane phospholipids and thiols in peroxide hemolysis: studies in vitamin E deficiency. Blood. 1968 Oct;32(4):549–568. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. KOGL F., de GIER, MULDER I., van DEENEN L. Metabolism and functions of phosphatides. Specific fatty acid composition of the red blood cell membranes. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1960 Sep 9;43:95–103. doi: 10.1016/0006-3002(60)90411-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. MORRISON W. R., SMITH L. M. PREPARATION OF FATTY ACID METHYL ESTERS AND DIMETHYLACETALS FROM LIPIDS WITH BORON FLUORIDE--METHANOL. J Lipid Res. 1964 Oct;5:600–608. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Mengel C. E. Rancidity of the red cell. Peroxidation of red cell lipid. Am J Med Sci. 1968 Jun;255:341–347. doi: 10.1097/00000441-196806000-00001. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Mulder E., van Deenen L. L. Metabolism of red-cell lipids. I. Incorporation in vitro of fatty acids into phospholipids from mature erythrocytes. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1965 Jul 7;106(1):106–117. doi: 10.1016/0005-2760(65)90099-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. NITOWSKY H. M., GORDON H. H., TILDON J. T. Studies of tocopherol deficiency in infants and children. IV. The effect of alpha tocopherol on creatinuria in patients with cystic fibrosis of the pancreas and biliary atresia. Bull Johns Hopkins Hosp. 1956 May;98(5):361–371. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. OLIVEIRA M. M., VAUGHAN M. INCORPORATION OF FATTY ACIDS INTO PHOSPHOLIPIDS OF ERYTHROCYTE MEMBRANES. J Lipid Res. 1964 Apr;5:156–162. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Oski F. A., Barness L. A. Vitamin E deficiency: a previously unrecognized cause of hemolytic anemia in the premature infant. J Pediatr. 1967 Feb;70(2):211–220. doi: 10.1016/s0022-3476(67)80416-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. ROSE C. S., GYORGY P. Specificity of hemolytic reaction in vitamin E-deficient erythrocytes. Am J Physiol. 1952 Feb;168(2):414–420. doi: 10.1152/ajplegacy.1952.168.2.414. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. SNYDER F., STEPHENS N. Quantitative carbon-14 and tritium assay of thin-layer chromatography plates. Anal Biochem. 1962 Aug;4:128–131. doi: 10.1016/0003-2697(62)90029-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Shohet S. B., Nathan D. G. Incorporation of phosphatide precursors from serum into erythrocytes. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1970 Feb 10;202(1):202–205. doi: 10.1016/0005-2760(70)90237-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Shohet S. B., Nathan D. G., Karnovsky M. L. Stages in the incorporation of fatty acids into red blood cells. J Clin Invest. 1968 May;47(5):1096–1108. doi: 10.1172/JCI105799. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Shohet S. B. Release of phospholipid fatty acid from human erythrocytes. J Clin Invest. 1970 Sep;49(9):1668–1678. doi: 10.1172/JCI106384. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Skipski V. P., Good J. J., Barclay M., Reggio R. B. Quantitative analysis of simple lipid classes by thin-layer chromatography. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1968 Jan 10;152(1):10–19. doi: 10.1016/0005-2760(68)90003-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Victoria E. J., Barber A. A. Peroxidation of microsomal membrane protein--lipid complexes. Lipids. 1969 Nov;4(6):582–588. doi: 10.1007/BF02531045. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Winterbourn C. C., Batt R. D. The uptake of plasma fatty acids into human red cells and its relationship to cell age. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1970 Feb 10;202(1):9–20. doi: 10.1016/0005-2760(70)90213-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Wittels B. Modification of phospholipid metabolism in human red cells by primaquine. A possible mechanism in drug-induced hemolysis. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1970 Jun 9;210(1):74–85. doi: 10.1016/0005-2760(70)90063-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Younkin S., Oski F. A., Barness L. A. Mechanism of the hydrogen peroxide hemolysis test and its reversal with phenols. Am J Clin Nutr. 1971 Jan;24(1):7–13. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/24.1.7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Clinical Investigation are provided here courtesy of American Society for Clinical Investigation

RESOURCES