The study of original and induced negative charges of human lymphocyte membrane.

Using the 1,9-dmmb topo-optical staining reaction carried out at pH 1-2 we were able to demonstrate the ordered arrangement of glycosaminoglycans on the surface of lymphocyte membranes. Our own histochemical observations have shown that the surface GAG component is not uniform: in addition to hyaluronic acid it contains chondroitin-4-sulphate, chondroitin-6-sulphate and dermatan sulphate. With the 1,9-dmmb topo-optical staining reaction at pH 1.0 to 2.0, the membranes of human lymphocytes (and neutrophilic granulocytes) selectively stain while those of erythrocytes do not. This difference may be due to the lack of the GAG component in the erythrocyte membrane. The heterogeneity of the human lymphocyte sialic acid component was demonstrated histochemically. With sialic acid- and O-acyl-sialic acid specific topo-optical reactions we detect an oriented sialic acid and O-acyl-sialic acid component on the surface of both B and T lymphocytes. In our polarization optical analysis, the sialic acid (and 9-O-acyl sialic acid), its pyranose ring respectively showed a membrane parallel orientation. On the basis of biochemical and immunological findings, the plasma membrane-associated RNA of lymphocytes was selectively demonstrated along with the difference between ergasto-plasmic and plasma membrane-associated RNA. Our histochemical and biochemical results suggest that the human lymphocyte membrane is more complex than other cell membranes.