Cellular inhomogeneity in dog red cells as revealed by sodium flux.

Unidirectional (24)Na fluxes across the dog red blood cell membrane were measured. The kinetics were incompatible with a single time constant but could be accounted for in terms of a two-series compartment cell model, with approximately 1% of cell Na in the outer compartment. Dog red blood cells are known to be inhomogeneous in their Na and K permeabilities. Theoretical analysis showed that such cellular inhomogeneity in the Na permeability coefficient might in principle account for the flux data. In order to evaluate the inhomogeneity effect, a technique based on the differential response of cells suspended in isosmolar high K buffers was devised to measure the variations in Na permeability in the cell population. A variation in the Na permeability coefficient of approximately 30% was found. This inhomogeneity is insufficient to account for the flux data.