On the exchange of H2O/D2O molecules across membranes of erythrocyte ghosts from patients with Huntington's disease and from normal individuals.

A recently developed technique is used to study the permeation of water through membranes of human erythrocyte ghosts. The method, based on the difference of the indices of refraction of H2O and D2O, is briefly described. Comparative measurements on erythrocyte ghosts from normal donors and from patients with Huntington's disease were performed. The calculated permeability coefficients for the two groups were almost identical and did not allow differentiation between the controls and patients with Huntington's disease.