Chloride transport in human red cells.

1. The chloride equilibrium flux (chloride self-exchange) was determined by measuring the rate of 36Cl efflux from radioactively labelled human red cells. The cellular chloride concentration was varied between 5 and 700 mM by the nystatin technique (Cass & Dalmark, 1973). The chloride transport capacity was not affected by the nystatin technique. 2. The chloride equilibrium flux showed saturation kinetics in the pH range between 6-2 and 9-2 (0 degrees C). The chloride transport decreased at chloride concentrations higher than those which gave the maximum transport. 3. The apparent half-saturation constant, (K1/2), depended on the pH and whether the chloride transport was perceived as a function of the chloride concentration in the medium or in the cell water. The (K1/2)m increased and the (K1/2)c decreased with increasing pH. The dependence of the chloride transport on the chloride concentration was described by Michaelis-Menten kinetics at pH 7-2, but at values of pH outside pH 7-8 S-shaped or steeper graphs were observed. 4. The chloride equilibrium flux varied with the pH at constant chloride concentration in the medium (pH 5-7-9-5). The transport had a bell-shaped pH dependence at chloride concentrations below 200 mM. At chloride concentrations between 300 and 600 mM the chloride transport increased with increasing pH to reach a plateau around pH 8. The position of the acidic branches of the pH graphs was independent of the chloride concentration (25-600 mM), but the position of the alkaline branches moved towards higher values of pH with increasing chloride concentration (5-150 mM). Thus, the position of the pH optimum increased with increasing chloride concentration. The chloride transport at low pH values was a function of the inverse second power of the hydrogen ion concentration. The pK of the groups which caused the inhibition was approximately 6 and independent of the temperature (0-18 degrees C). 5. The chloride equilibrium flux as a function of chloride concentration, pH, and temperature could be described by a transport model with a mobile, positively charged, chloride binding carrier with a single chloride dissociation constant of 33 mM, a transport capacity of 900 m-mole/3 x 10(13) cells.min (pH 7-2, 0 degrees C), and an Arrhenius activation energy of 30 kcal/mole. The pH dependence of the transport of inorganic monovalent and divalent anions is discussed in relation to the suggested model.