Dog red blood cells (RBC) are shown to regulate their volume in anisosmotic media. Extrusion of water from osmotically swollen cells requires external calcium and is associated with net outward sodium movement. Ac= cumulation of water by osmotically shrunken cells is not calcium dependent and is associated with net sodium uptake. Net movements of calcium are influenced by several variables including cell volume, pH, medium sodium concentration, and cellular sodium concentration. Osmotic swelling of cells increases calcium permeability, and this effect is diminished at acid pH. Net calcium flux in either direction between cells and medium is facilitated when the sodium concentration is low in the compartment from which calcium moves and/or high in the compartment to which calcium moves. The hypothesis is advanced that energy for active sodium extrusion in dog RBC comes from passive, inward flow of calcium through a countertransport mechanism.

The sensitivity of red blood cells containing hemoglobins S and C to activation of K-Cl cotransport by osmotic swelling and acidification was reduced by okadaic acid, a specific protein phosphatase inhibitor. The dose-response curve for okadaic acid suggests its action is on a type 1 protein phosphatase. Okadaic acid has been previously shown to inhibit swelling-induced activation of K-Cl cotransport in red blood cells from rabbits, normal humans, and dogs. The present work confirms the observation that okadaic acid blunts the stimulation of K-Cl cotransport by cell swelling. The new information is that okadaic acid reduces the effects of hemoglobins S and C on the volume and pH sensitivity of K-Cl cotransport. Thus the influences of cell volume, pH, and mutant hemoglobins may all be mediated via a common mechanisms that affects the phosphorylation state, either of the K-Cl. cotransporter itself or of a protein that regulates its function.

Dog red blood cells (RBC) have a Na-H exchanger that is reversibly activated by cell shrinkage. The Na-H exchanger can be fixed in the on or off mode by treating the cells with N-phenylmaleimide. This action depends on the volume of the cells at the time of exposure to N-phenylmaleimide and also on the concentration of the reagent per number of cells. If the cells are swollen in hypotonic media during N-phenylmaleimide exposure, the Na-H exchanger becomes irreversibly inactivated, so that on subsequent shrinkage of the cells, no amiloride-sensitive Na flux is seen. This effect is maximal at N-phenylmaleimide concentrations of greater than 20 mumol/g hemoglobin. If the cells are shrunken in hypertonic media during N-phenylmaleimide exposure, the response of the Na-H exchanger depends critically on the concentration of the reagent. At N-phenylmaleimide concentrations of less than 20 mumol/g hemoglobin, the Na-H exchanger is fixed in the activated state, so that even when the volume stimulus is removed by subsequent cell swelling, an amiloride-sensitive flux is seen. Higher concentrations of N-phenylmaleimide applied to shrunken cells inhibit the Na-H exchanger. The results are accounted for in a model that envisions a volume-responsive switching mechanism for Na-H exchange that has two functional groups capable of reacting with N-phenylmaleimide. The accessibility of these groups is determined by cell volume.

A strategy is presented for fixing regulated transport systems in the functional or non-functional state. The advantages of this approach include the ability to distinguish between sensor and effector systems, the capacity to study transporters independently of their activating mechanisms, and the possibility of identifying membrane polypeptides that participate in the regulatory process.