The Quantitative Interrelationships between Ion Fluxes, Cell Swelling, and Radiation Dose in Ultraviolet Hemolysis

Abstract

Following treatment with ultraviolet radiation, human red cells leak cations at accelerated rates which depend on the radiation dose. With one exception (initial Na efflux), these accelerated cation fluxes fit the Ussing flux-ratio criterion for passive diffusion. Na efflux is transiently high, but with time falls to the value expected on the basis of the other cation fluxes. An equation based on the hypothesis of colloid osmotic hemolysis satisfactorily predicts the rate of cell swelling as a result of these ion movements.