Individual variations of the seven carbohydrate components of human erythrocyte membrane during aging in vivo.

The contents of fucose, mannose, galactose, glucose, 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucose and -D-galactose, and sialic acid, when the results were expressed as nmol per mg of membrane dry-weights, were found to be significantly lower in the membranes of old erythrocytes than in the membranes of young ones. No significant difference was found between young and old membranes when the compositions were expressed as residues per one hundred carbohydrate residues, suggesting that a homogeneous decrease of the carbohydrate moieties may occur during aging in vivo.