Alteration of Cl- transport in erythrocytes from patients with Huntington's disease.

Rate constants for Cl- transport across erythrocyte membranes were measured in experiments performed simultaneously on normal erythrocytes (control) and erythrocytes from patients with Huntington's disease (HD). The rate constants were observed to decrease in HD cells during aging in vitro from 12% higher to lower than normal values. Young HD cells, separated from blood, quickly decreased their permeability for anions by about 30%, while old cells seemed to increase it. Rate constants in control erythrocytes remained steady and equal in both fractions. A hypothesis has been proposed that there might be two populations of erythrocytes in HD blood, one abnormal, characterized by an initially high anion permeability, which decreases significantly during the cell life. A theoretical analysis of the results has suggested that the abnormal fraction of erythrocytes in HD blood may be associated with an increased population of stomatocytes observed by electron microscopy.