THE PERMEABILITY OF THE ERYTHROCYTE TO CATIONS

Excerpt

The study of ionic permeability must concern itself with two main problems: first, the cause of the normal impermeability of a cell membrane to certain ions or species of ions, and second, the mechanism whereby certain ions, to which a membrane is not impermeable, are enabled to effect the transition from one side to the other of this membrane. The erythrocyte membrane is generally considered to be cation impermeable, hence a study of the ways in which this impermeability can be disturbed will lead to information regarding the special characteristics of the membrane responsible for this specific ionic impermeability. On the other hand the erythrocytes of certain species exhibit exceptions from the generally accepted rule of cation impermeability, hence these erythrocytes may be used as the material for an experimental study of the second general problem mentioned above. In the present paper the results of work carried out by the...