Time course and inhibition of saponin-induced hemolysis.

Hemolytic activities of 3 steroid saponins reached plateaus within 5 min, whereas those of 4 triterpenoid saponins did not within 60 min. Erythrocytes pretreated with a low concentration of tigogenin were resistant to hemolysis of some of these saponins, but those pretreated with hecogenin or tomatidine were as sensitive as non-treated erythrocytes. Therefore, the ketone group of hecogenin or the amino group of tomatidine would weaken the interactions between the erythrocytes and these sapogenins. Furthermore, incubations of these saponins with a small amount of cholesterol diminished the hemolytic activities.