Relative hydrophobicity of surfaces of erythrocytes from different species as measured by partition in aqueous two-polymer phase systems.

Erythrocytes from different species were subjected to partition in an aqueous, buffered Ficoll/Dextran two-phase system. The effects of different salt composition of the phase system on the distribution of erythrocytes was examined. Different ratios of sodium chloride to sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.4) with the ionic strength varying from 0.176 to 0.288 M were used in the systems and similar relationship between the partition coefficients of the cells under study and the ionic strength were established. The relationships were treated according to a general equation previously established (Zaslavsky, B.Y., Miheeva, L.M., Metechkina, N.M., Pogorelov, V.M. and Rogozhin, S.V. (1978) FEBS Lett. 94, 77-80) and the results obtained were used to evaluate the relative hydrophobicity of the cells' surface.