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Specificity of Sugar Carriers in Erythrocytes

Nature volume 213, pages 523–524 (1967)Cite this article

Abstract

THE mechanism of exchange transport can be explained in various ways1,2, but it is evident that substances participating in it penetrate through the membrane using the same carriers. This type of transport can therefore be used to investigate substances which share common carriers. The specificity of sugar carriers in erythrocytes was investigated by this method and the results indicated that only some of the monosaccharides share the same carriers3. The others pertained to monosaccharides which had a lower affinity for the carriers4. The objection has been made that in experiments with sugars of low affinity to the carrier it was only their low relative concentration in the medium (that is, concentration with regard to the affinity) that could be the reason for the lack of exchange transport5. We have explored this suggestion and followed the exchange transport of glucose for L- and D-arabinose (that is, sugars with a quite different affinity for the carrier4) at the same relative concentrations.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion, Prague

    L. LACKO

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  1. L. LACKO
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LACKO, L. Specificity of Sugar Carriers in Erythrocytes. Nature 213, 523–524 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1038/213523a0

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