Effect of alkali-treated lipopolysaccharide on the intracellular cations of human erythrocytes.

The adsorption to human erythrocytes of Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide treated by mild alkaline hydrolysis (h-LPS) stimulated an increase in the intracellular Na+ concentration and a decrease in the intracellular K+ concentration of the erythrocytes. Erythrocytes treated by h-LPS remained responsive to the membrane adenosine triphosphatase inhibitors ouabain and ethacrynic acid, indicating that hLPS did not alter erythrocyte cations be depleting energy intermediates or uncoupling energy metabolism from active cation transport. The h-LPS-treated erythrocytes became non-agglutinable by the lectin concanavalin A prior to the development of changes in intracellular cations. In addition, h-LPS-treated erythrocytes demonstrated a three-fold greater cation response to ethacrynic acid than the untreated erythrocytes; this greater response was probably due to local membrane effects by h-LPS on the ethacrynic acid-sensitive adenosine triphosphatase. It is suggested that the h-LPS-induced alteration of erythrocyte cation content was secondary to an increase in ion permeability localized to the concanavalin A receptor regions of the erythrocyte membrane, possibly combined with indirect effects of membrane-bound h-LPS on ethacrynic acid-sensitive adenosine triphosphatase.