Summary
The effect of increasing the (colloid-)osmotic pressure in the extracellular medium on haemolysis by the direct lytic factor of cobra venom (DLF) and phospholipase A has been investigated. For comparison, N-ethyl-maleimide (NEM) and p-chloromercuribenzoate (p-CMB) were used.
Dextran and sucrose abolished the haemolytic effect of NEM and p-CMB but reduced only slightly (dextran) or not (sucrose) the weak lytic activity of DLF. Haemolysis by phospholipase A in the presence of DLF, NEM or p-CMB was not significantly inhibited. Hypertonic NaCl solution considerably retarded the onset of haemolysis by DLF plus phospholipase A.
The mean corpuscular volume of guinea-pig red cells increased slightly but definitely during incubation with DLF.
It is concluded that the haemolytic effect of DLF has non-osmotic as well as osmotic components, and that phospholipase A causes non-osmotic haemolysis. The retardation of haemolysis by hypertonic NaCl probably indicates specific inhibition of bee venom phospholipase A2, not protection of the erythrocytes from osmotic stress.
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Abbreviations
- DLF:
-
direct lytic factor of cobra venom
- NEM:
-
N-ethyl-maleimide
- p-CMB:
-
p-chloromercuribenzoate
- MCV:
-
mean corpuscular volume
References
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Lankisch, P.G., Damerau, B. & Vogt, W. Osmotic and non-osmotic components of the haemolysis induced by the direct lytic factor (DLF) of cobra venom. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch. Pharmacol. 282, 255–260 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00501234
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00501234