Effect of lactic acid on water content and osmotic fragility of erythrocytes in vivo.

OBJECTIVE

A coll planet centrifuge is an apparatus for the dynamic measurement of erythrocyte osmotic fragility, and it was applied to the observation of altered erythrocyte osmotic fragility induced by the lactic acid. Changes in intracellular water content of red cells were also measured according to the method, based on gas-liquid chromatography.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

Blood was withdrawn from the animal by cardiac puncture before and after lactic acid injection. The lactic acid was injected to rabbit through the auricular vein till the final concentration for the circulating blood was 0.7 mg/ml.

RESULTS

The water content in the red cells before the lactic acid injection was between 71.37% and 73.33%. It increased after the lactic acid injection and reached the maximum of 102% of the original content. Hemolysis of erythrocytes before the injection of lactic acid began at 108.3 to 110.3 mOsm and ended at 77.0 to 81.0 mOsm, and after the injection it began at 117.0 to 120.7 mOsm and ended at 84.5 to 87.3 mOsm.

CONCLUSIONS

In the present experiment the decrease in pH of the blood in lactic acid administered rabbits was too small to cause any changes in the osmotic fragility, suggesting that changes of the erythrocyte membrane properties, owing to the presence of lactic acid in the blood had occurred.