Light scattering stopped-flow studies on the time course of shape changes induced in human erythrocytes by several amphiphilic lipids.

The light scattering stopped-flow method was used to study the time course of shape changes in human erythrocytes induced by two series of lipids (saturated and unsaturated free fatty acids and lysophosphatidylcholine (lysoPC) species, both with various acyl chain lengths (C12-C18] at pH 7.4 and 23 degrees C. The decrease in the scattered light intensity as a function of time suggested that these lipids induce crenation of erythrocytes, the rate constant of which is largely dependent on the nature of the respective lipids. For both series of lipids, an increase in chain length was found to decrease the rate of the induction of shape changes. The results were discussed in relation to hydrophobicity of lipid molecules.