[Effect of chemical modification of the surface of erythrocytes on their stability to the hemolytic action of sodium alkyl sulfates].

The hemolytic action of a homologous series of sodium alkyl sulfates (C8 to C15) on dog and human erythrocytes was measured. The influence of trypsin, pronase and neuraminidase treatments on the lytic resistance of human red cells was studied. A new approach evaluating the hemolytic activity of ionic surfactants is expressed as a ratio of a concentration providing 50% lysis to its CMC-value. The results obtained are examined for their bearing on the use of surfactants as a means to study the structure organization of biological membranes.