The Concentration Dependence of Active Potassium Transport in the Human Red Blood Cell*

Abstract

The relation between the active potassium influx in the human red blood cell and the extracellular potassium concentration does not appear to be consistent with the Michaelis-Menten model, but is adequately described by a model in which two potassium ions are required simultaneously at some site or sites in the transport mechanism before transport occurs. The same type of relation appears to exist between that portion of the sodium outflux that requires the presence of extracellular potassium and the extracellular potassium concentration. Rubidium, cesium, and lithium, which are apparently transported by the same system that transports potassium, stimulate the potassium influx when both potassium and the second ion are present at low concentrations, as is predicted by the two-site model.