The effects of dansylation on the pH dependence of SO4(2-) and Cl- equilibrium exchange and on the H+/SO4(2-) cotransport across the red blood cell membrane.

Treatment of the erythrocyte membrane with dansyl chloride leads to the following effects: (i) SO4(2-) transport is enhanced, Cl- transport is reduced. At maximal acceleration of sulfate exchange, Cl- exchange is only partially inhibited. The two effects are lineary related suggesting that the Cl- and SO4(2-) transporting forms of band 3 are derived from the same pool. (ii) The maximum of the pH dependence of SO4(2-) equilibrium exchange as measured at low sulfate concentrations is replaced by a plateau. It now resembles the pH dependence of Cl- exchange in untreated red cells. The pH dependence of SO4(2-) equilibrium exchange as measured at high sulfate concentrations is virtually unchanged after dansylation. The pH dependence of the partially inhibited Cl- equilibrium exchange across the dansylated membrane as measured at high chloride concentrations remains similar as in the untreated red cells but is somewhat less pronounced. (iii) SO4(2-)/H+ cotransport remains essentially unaltered after modification by dansyl chloride. The effects of dansylation are discussed in terms of a model similar to the titratable carrier model originally proposed by Gunn (Gunn, R.B. (1972) in Oxygen Affinity of Hemoglobin and Red Cell Acid Base Status (Rorth, M. and Astrup, P., eds.), pp. 823-827, Munksgaard, Copenhagen).