A membrane model describing the effect of temperature on the water conductivity of erythrocyte membranes at subzero temperatures.

Thermodynamic models show that the loss of intracellular water from human erythrocytes during freezing depends heavily upon the water conductivity of the erythrocyte membrane. These calculations, which are based on the simple extrapolation of ambient conductivity data to subzero temperatures, show that more than 95% of cell water is transferable during freezing, whereas experiments show that at least 20% of cell water is retained. A study of the effects of different published values for the membrane water conductivity on cell water retained during freezing shows that this discrepancy may be a consequence of the simple extrapolation procedure. For a homogeneous membrane system, absolute reaction rate theory was used to develop a surface-limited permeation model that includes the resistance to the flow of water not only through the interior region of the membrane but also across possible rate-limiting barriers at the solution-membrane interfaces. The model shows that it is unlikely that a single rate-limiting process dominates water transport in the red cell as it is being cooled from ambient to subzero temperatures. The effective membrane conductivity at subzero temperatures could possible be much lower than a simple extrapolation of existing data would predict. With the aid of this model analytical predictions of intracellular water during freezing are more consistent with experimental observations.