Summary
The curves of Fig. 1 show that the spectral distribution of efficiency of radiation in decreasing the stability of red blood corpuscles corresponds very closely to the spectral distribution of the power of oxyhemoglobin to absorb radiation. This correspondence clearly indicates that it is a chemical change in the hemoglobin which is responsible for the decrease of resistance of the corpuscles and hemolysis produced by light. In other words, hemolysis is not due to some change in the membrane of the red corpuscle, which is colorless, but to a chemical change in the hemoglobin; that is, in one of the components of the principal compounds constituting the protoplasm of erythrocytes (4).
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Literature Cited
Lepeschkin, W. W. Haemolysis and changes in resistance produced by light. Protoplasma14, 11, 1931.
Davis, G. E. Instruments for radiometric and radio-biological investigations at the Desert Sanatorium and Institute of Research, Tucson, Arizona. Gen. Elec. Rev.34, 98, 1931.
Lepeschkin, W. W. Fragility of red corpuscles and its determination in clinical work. Jour. Lab. Clin. Med.17 1250, 1932.
Lepeschkin, W. W. Über die Ursache der Hämolyse. Medd. K. Vet. ak. Nobelinstitut (Stockholm),6, No. 11, 1924.
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Lepeschkin, W.W., Davis, G.E. Hemolysis and the solar spectrum. Protoplasma 20, 189–194 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02674825
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02674825