Effects of divalent cations on lipid flip-flop in the human erythrocyte membrane.

Treatment of human erythrocytes with ionophore A23187 (10 mumol.l-1) and Ca2+ (0.05-0.5 mmol.l-1) or Sr2+ (0.2-1 mmol.l-1) in results in a concentration-dependent acceleration of the transmembrane reorientation (flip) of the lipid probes lysophosphatidylcholine and palmitoylcarnitine to the inner membrane leaflet after their primary insertion into the outer leaflet. Mg2+, Mn2+, Zn2+ and La3+ do not accelerate flip. Ca2(+)-induced flip acceleration depends also on the ionophore concentration. It is reversed by removal of Ca2+ with EDTA. A causal role of Ca2(+)-induced membrane protein degradation and decrease of the polyphosphoinositide level in flip acceleration could be excluded. Likewise, calmodulin-dependent processes are probably not involved since the calmodulin antagonist calmidazolium (2-10 mumol.l-1) does not suppress but even enhances the Ca2(+)-induced flip acceleration. The same is true for the Ca2+ antagonist flunarizine. These drugs do not alter flip rate in the absence of Ca2+. At high Ca2+ (1-5 mmol.l-1) an initial flip acceleration is followed by flip normalization. High concentrations of Mn2+ and Mg2+ slow down flip rates. The selective acceleration of flip by Ca2+ and Sr2+ is discussed to be due to a local detachment of the membrane skeleton from the bilayer, whereas the unselective slow down of flip by divalent cations might be due to a stabilization of the membrane bilayer by the cations. After loading of cells with Ca2+ (but not with Mn2+) the inner membrane leaflet phospholipid phosphatidylserine becomes rapidly exposed to the outer membrane surface, as detectable by its accessibility to phospholipase A2 (5 min).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Bacterial cytotoxins, amphotericin B and local anesthetics enhance transbilayer mobility of phospholipids in erythrocyte membranes. Consequences for phospholipid asymmetry.

Incorporation of the channel-forming polyene antibiotic amphotericin B and of cytotoxins from Staphylococcus aureus (alpha-toxin) or Pseudomonas aeruginosa into erythrocyte membranes results in a concentration-dependent enhancement of the flip rates of exogenous lysophosphatidylcholine. The flip rate is also enhanced by incorporation of tetracaine and dibucaine. Removal of tetracaine and amphotericin B from the cells normalizes the flip rates. In parallel to the enhancement of flip rates, alpha-toxin produces a loss of transmembrane asymmetry of both phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylserine. Pretreatment of cells with amphotericin or high concentrations (over 2.5 mmol . l-1) of tetracaine, followed by removal of the perturbing agent by washing, produces a selective loss of the asymmetric orientation of phosphatidylethanolamine to the inner membrane layer, as evaluated by the accessibility of the lipid towards cleavage by phospholipase A2. The extent to which asymmetry is lost depends on the time of pretreatment with amphotericin or tetracaine, indicating a limitation by the rate of reorientation of phosphatidylethanolamine to the outer membrane surface. Evaluation of the accessibility of phosphatidylethanolamine towards cleavage by phospholipase A2 in the presence of local anesthetics indicates accessible fractions much higher than those obtained after removal of the perturbant. In the presence of tetracaine, endofacial phosphatidylethanolamine seems somehow to become accessible to phospholipase A2. Phosphatidylserine does not exhibit this peculiarity. The results indicate that various types of perturbation of the lipid domain of the erythrocyte membrane may enhance the transbilayer mobility of phospholipids as well as destabilize the asymmetric distribution of aminophospholipids. However, as in other instances reported previously (Haest, C.W.M., Erusalimsky, J., Dressler, V., Kunze, I. and Deuticke B. (1983) Biomed. Biochim. Acta 42, 17-21), there is no tight coupling between transbilayer mobility and destabilization of asymmetry of the transbilayer distribution of phospholipids.

Stabilizing factors of phospholipid asymmetry in the erythrocyte membrane.

Transbilayer reorientation (flip) of exogenous lysophospholipids and changes of the transbilayer distribution of endogenous phospholipids were studied in human erythrocytes and membrane vesicles. (1) Exogenous lysophosphatidylserine irreversibly accumulates in the inner membrane layer of resealed ghosts of human erythrocytes. (2) This accumulation even occurs after complete loss of asymmetric distribution of endogenous phosphatidylethanolamine and partial loss of phosphatidylserine asymmetry in diamide-treated cells. (3) Formation of inside-out and right-side-out vesicles from erythrocyte membranes results in a loss of endogenous phospholipid asymmetry as well as of the ability to establish asymmetry of exogenous lysophosphatidylserine. Rates of transbilayer reorientation of lysophospholipids for the vesicles, however, are comparable to those for intact cells. (4) Loss of endogenous asymmetry of phosphatidylserine is also observed in vesicles isolated from erythrocytes after heat denaturation of spectrin. The asymmetry in the residual cells is maintained. (5) In contrast to the loss of asymmetry of phosphatidylethanolamine and of phosphatidylserine, the asymmetry of sphingomyelin is completely maintained in the vesicles. (6) The stability of phospholipid asymmetry in the native cell is discussed in terms of a limitation of access of phospholipids to hypothetical reorientation sites. Such a limitation may either be the result of interaction of phospholipids with the membrane skeleton as in case of phosphatidylserine and phosphatidylethanolamine, or the result of lipid-lipid interactions as in case of sphingomyelin.

Stabilization of erythrocyte shape by a chemical increase in membrane shear stiffness.

Treatment of human erythrocytes with the SH oxidant, diamide, suppresses shape transformations of biconcave erythrocytes into echinocytes or stomatocytes by shape-transforming agents assumed to exert their action via the lipid phase as well as via membrane proteins. The effect of diamide on shape changes is due to a formation of inter- and intramolecular disulfide bonds in membrane proteins, and can be reversed by reduction of these disulfide bonds. A monofunctional SH reagent, N-ethylmaleimide, also stabilizes the shape of the cell. Moreover, echinocytes produced by salicylate, and stomatocytes produced by Triton X-100, can be stabilized by diamide and do not return to the biconcave shape upon removal of the shape-transforming agents. The stabilizing effect of the SH reagents is paralleled by a loss of shear-induced deformability of the erythrocytes. A model is discussed that describes the possible mechanism by which SH reagents may stabilize the shape of the cell due to an increase of membrane shear stiffness.

Spectrin as a stabilizer of the phospholipid asymmetry in the human erythrocyte membrane.

After treatment of intact human erythrocytes with SH-oxidizing agents (e.g. tetrathionate and diamide) phospholipase A2 cleaves approx. 30% of the phosphatidylserine and 50% of the phosphatidylethanolamine without causing hemolysis (Haest, C.W.M. and Deuticke, B (1976) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 436, 353--365). These phospholipids are scarcely hydrolysed in fresh erythrocytes and are assumed to be located in the inner lipid layer of the membrane (Verkleij, A.J., Zwaal, R.F.A., Roelofsen, B., Comfurius, P., Kastelijn, D. and van Deenen, L.L.M. (1973) Biochim. Biophys Acta 323, 178--193). The enhancement of the phospholipid cleavage is now shown to be accompanied by a 50% decrease of the membrane SH-groups and a cross-linking of spectrin, located at the inner surface of the membrane, to oligomers of less than 10(6) dalton. Blocking approx. 10% of the membrane SH groups with N-ethylmaleimide suppresses both the polymerization of spectrin and the enhancement of the phospholipid cleavage. N-Ethylmaleimide, under these conditions, reacts with three SH groups per molecule of spectrin, 0.7 SH groups per major intrinsic 100 000 dalton protein (band 3) and 1.1 SH groups per molecule of an extrinsic protein of 72 000 daltons (band 4.2). Blocking studies with iodoacetamide demonstrate that the SH groups of the 100 000-dalton protein are not involved in the effects of the SH-oxidizing agents. It is suggested that a release of constraints imposed by spectrin enables phosphatidylserine and phosphatidylethanolamine to move from the inner to the outer lipid layer of the erythrocyte membrane and that spectrin, in the native erythrocyte, stabilizes the orientation of these phospholipids to the inner surface of the membrane.

Intra- and intermolecular cross-linking of membrane proteins in intact erythrocytes and ghosts by SH-oxidizing agents.

In intact human erythrocytes, SH-oxidizing agents exclusively cross-link spectrin via disulfide bonds. In ghosts, additional dimerization of the major intrinsic protein, band 3, is observed. After blockade of intracellular GSH the agents dimerize band 3 in the intact cell too, indicating that GSH may prevent band 3 dimerization under physiological conditions. The oxidizing agents reversibly oxidize 80% of the membrane SH-groups, suggesting that these groups are arranged close enough to each other to form disulfide bonds. This arrangement may protect other cell cell structures against free radicals or oxidative stress.