[Role of membrane-bound calcium in the changes of ion permeability and Na+, 5+ and ATPase activity of the erythrocytes in hypertension].

The content of calcium bound to the erythrocyte membrane and the effect of intracellular calcium concentration on the activity of Na+, K+-ATPase in the reconstituted erythrocytes were studied in 20 patients with essential hypertension and in 20 individuals with normal pressure. In incubation of the erythrocytes in a solution containing EDTA much more calcium is removed from the outer surface of their membrane in patients with essential hypertension than in the control group (60 +/- 5 mEq/l and 41 +/- 3 mEq/l, respectively). When the intracellular calcium concentration varies from 0 to 500 mumol/l, which corresponds to a rise in the free calcium (Ca2f+-3) concentration to 41 mumol/l, a difference in the changes of Na+, K+-ATPase activity of the reconstituted erythrocytes is noted. When intracellular calcium concentration is 50 mumol/l (Ca2f+-3 mumol/l), ATP-ase activity in patients with essential hypertension is 21% less than that in individuals with normal pressure (P less than 0.005). The authors explain the difference in the kinetics of Na+, K+-ATPase changes by the different degree of calcium depletion of the inner surface of the erythrocyte membrane in relatively low Ca2f+ values in the internal medium. The data obtained are evidence of the altered calcium-binding capacity of the erythrocyte membrane, which may cause the increased permeability of the erythrocyte membrane to sodium and potassium ions in patients with essential hypertension, which the authors had revealed earlier. The authors consider the revealed changes to be a fragment of a more extensive membrane defect which may be the principal cause of activation of the servomechanisms which maintain arterial pressure.