Spin label studies of erythrocytes with abnormal lipid composition: comparison of red cells in a hereditary hemolytic syndrome and lecithin: Cholesterol acyltransferase deficiency

Abstract

Erythrocytes from patients with familial lecithin : cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) deficiency have been shown to exhibit an increase in membrane fluidity which is surprisingly small in view of the extensive alterations both in membrane lipid composition (namely, an elevation in cholesterol and phosphatidylcholine contents as well as a decrease in phosphatidylethanolamine) and in the functional properties of these cells. In the hope of deriving some information concerning the interrelationship between the structural and functional abnormalities, we have used the spin probe 5-doxyl stearic acid to investigate the temperature-dependent fluidity properties of red cells from two patients with a hereditary hemolytic syndrome (HHS) whose red cells are also characterized by qualitatively similar alterations in phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine but, unlike those in LCAT deficiency, have relatively normal levels of membrane cholesterol. A small increase in membrane fluidity of HHS erythrocytes equivalent to that previously observed in LCAT deficiency was found, indicating that membrane cholesterol level does not exert an important modulatory influence on membrane fluidity in these cells. It is concluded that while the distinct patterns of structural and functional erythrocyte alterations in these two disorders cannot be explained on the basis of differences in bulk membrane fluidity, the marginally increased fluidity may underlie the abnormalities in osmotic fragility and membrane p-nitrophenylphosphatase activity which are shared in common by both types of modified red cells.