Shape changes in goose erythrocytes.

Goose erythrocytes were subjected to agents and treatments that produce echinocytosis in human erythrocytes. In the presence of the ionophore A23187 and calcium at greater than micromolar concentrations, goose red cells retained their normal ellipsoidal symmetry, but developed extensive semiregular membrane wrinkles or corrugations. Metabolic NTP (nucleoside triphosphate) depletion, induced either by iodoacetamide or by incubating the cells without a substrate, initially produced a similar cell corrugation, but after prolonged incubation most cells became spherical with the nucleus displaced to the cell periphery. The echinocytic agents indomethacin and dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine had no effect on the gross morphology of goose erythrocytes.