Acceleration of coagulation by spectrin-free erythrocytic vesicles. Evidence for lipid flip-flop during vesicle formation.

Spectrin-free erythrocytic vesicles isolated from outdated liquid-preserved blood samples show a distinct increase of the clot-promoting activity compared with membrane phospholipid equivalents of intact erythrocytes. We suppose that, among other remodelling processes, local spectrin detachment from the inner membrane surface may trigger a flip-flop-mediated disturbance of the membrane lipid asymmetry. The interactions of spectrin with the cytoplasmic membrane surface seem to be essential for the structural membrane integrity including the lipid asymmetry.