Effect of osmotic stress of some cations, anions and saccharides on uremic red blood cells

ABSTRACT

Osmotic fragility curves for control and uremic RBC were constructed for 10 different salts, 5 monosaccharides and 3 disaccharides to demonstrate the osmotic behavior of uremic red cells to different cations, anions and sugars. Median osmotic fragilities [MOF] for Na+, K+, Ca2+, Cl-, HCO3-, lactate, glucose, mannose, and lactose for uremic cells were decreased compared with controls, whereas that for galactose was >4.6 times increased. Hemolytic curves for fructose, arabinose, sucrose and maltose were almost identical for both control and uremic cells with insignificant change [P >0.05] for their MOF. From these results it may be inferred that uremic cells are more resistant to hemolysis when they are subjected to osmotic stress for most of the ions and sugars tested. These results provided important insights into the effects of uremia on the RBCs membrane permeability and may have important implications for dialysis and carbohydrate intolerance in uremia