Genetic differences in red cell osmotic fragility: analysis in allophenic
mice
MJ Dewey, JL Brown and FS Nallaseth
Mice of strain DBA/2J were found to produce red cells considerably more
resistant to osmotic lysis than cells from C57BL/6J or the F1 hybrid
between the two strains. Such strain-specific differences in osmotic
fragility could be the result of genetically determined humoral or other
systemic differences that indirectly influence red cell properties.
Alternatively, this phenotypic variation might be an inherent property of
the erythrocyte themselves and be directly controlled by their genotype.
Analysis of red cells from allophenic (mosaic) mice of the strain
composition C57BL/6J in equilibrium DBA/2J demonstrated that the latter
possibility is the case. In such mice, erythrocytes of the DBA/2J genotype
are relatively more resistant to osmotic lysis than are those of the
C57BL/6J genotype; partial lysis of allophenic blood at intermediate salt
concentrations results in marked enrichment for DBA/2J cells among the
survivors. Future experiments designed to determine the mechanism
underlying this difference can now focus on the properties of the red blood
cells per se with the certainty that this property is inherent to the
genotype of each cell.
Volume 59,
Issue 5,
pp. 986-989,
05/01/1982
Copyright © 1982 by The American Society of Hematology
