The calcium content of human erythrocytes

1. The calcium content of human erythrocytes, after removal of the buffy coat and washing free from plasma with isotonic sodium chloride, has been determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The mean value found for normal subjects was 0.634 mug/ml. of packed erythrocytes (0.0158 mug-atom/ml.). The corresponding values for magnesium and zinc were 79.7 and 20.1 mug/ml., respectively.2. The calcium is considered to be mostly and perhaps exclusively located in the erythrocyte membrane, since, after osmotic haemolysis, the same amount was found in the ghost cells as was present in the erythrocytes from which they were prepared. By contrast, magnesium and zinc, which are essentially intracellular, were lost to the extent of about 96 and 92%, respectively.3. About 90% of the calcium was removed from erythrocytes by washing with isotonic sodium chloride containing 5 mM ethylenediaminetetraacetate (EDTA), or other complexing agents of high stability constant for calcium. A small fraction of the magnesium but none of the zinc was removed by this treatment.4. Other complexing agents of lower stability constant removed somewhat less calcium from the erythrocytes. Citrate was totally ineffective.5. The buffy coat had a high calcium content, but this could not be removed by washing with EDTA.6. Calcium was also determined in trichloroacetic acid extracts of ghost cells after ashing and treatment with bis-(o-hydroxyphenylimino)-ethane and measuring the red complex spectrophotometrically. The values obtained confirmed the atomic absorption measurements.

The chemical nature of the products obtained by the action of cabbage-leaf phospholipase D on lysolecithin: the structure of lysolecithin

1. Lysolecithin, prepared by the action of snake-venom phospholipase A on ovolecithin, when incubated with Savoy-cabbage phospholipase D, in the presence of Ca(2+) ions, gave two degradation products (designated A and B) in the form of their calcium salts. 2. These calcium salts were separated quantitatively by solvent fractionation and converted into the corresponding sodium salts. 3. Substance B proved to be a lysophosphatidic acid of conventional structure (1-monoacyl-l-3-glycerophosphoric acid). When the phosphate group was removed by means of prostatic acid phosphomonoesterase, a 1-monoglyceride was formed quantitatively. Alkaline hydrolysis gave the theoretical yield of l-3-glycerophosphate. 4. Substance A, on the other hand, had all the properties expected for a cyclic phosphate of a 1-monoglyceride. It was unaffected by phosphomonoesterase. On alkaline hydrolysis, the acyl group was removed and ring opening of the presumed cyclic phosphate group gave an approximately equimolar mixture of 2- and l-3-glycerophosphates. 5. The structures of substances A and B confirm lysolecithin as 1-monoacyl-l-3-glycerylphosphorylcholine.

The action of cabbage-leaf phospholipase D upon lysolecithin

1. The action of the water-soluble phospholipase D from Savoy cabbage leaves upon an aqueous solution of lysolecithin has been studied. 2. Optimum conditions required the presence of Ca(2+) ions and pH5.8. 3. Equivalence was found between the amounts of lysolecithin hydrolysed and free choline released. The reaction was not accompanied by deacylation. 4. As the enzymic degradation proceeded, an opalescence developed, owing to the insolubility of the reaction product in the presence of Ca(2+) ions. 5. Evidence has been obtained indicating the heterogeneity of this reaction product.

Chromatographic behaviour of rat-liver monophosphoinositide

1. Chromatography of rat-liver lipids on a column of silicic acid or a mixture of silicic acid and Hyflo Super-Cel, with chloroform-methanol mixtures, gave monophosphoinositide-containing fractions which were invariably contaminated by the presence of nitrogen-containing phospholipids. The behaviour of the inositide was extremely sensitive to column loading and the results with different batches of silicic acid were not reproducible. 2. However, when chromatography on an alumina column was used, the solvent system chloroform-methanol-water (23:23:4, by vol.) completely eluted the neutral lipids, choline-containing phospholipids and phosphatidylethanolamine. An increase of the water content of the solvent to 14% (by vol.) then led to the elution of the monophosphoinositide component, now free from nitrogen-containing phospholipids, but still contaminated by the presence of a phospholipid, which from its properties was taken to be polyglycerophosphatide. 3. Most of the polyglycerophosphatide could be removed from a rat-liver lipid extract by silicic acid chromatography with chloroform-methanol (19:1, v/v). The other phospholipids were then eluted and applied to an alumina column, whereby a monophosphoinositide fraction of much greater purity was obtained. 4. Further purification of the monophosphoinositide was achieved by chromatography on a mixture of silicic acid and cellulose powder. The final product was virtually pure by thin-layer chromatography and gave the expected analysis for monophosphoinositide.