Temperature and red cell metabolism: Effects of α-stat and pH-stat conditions

Abstract 1. 1.Glycolytic and pentose phosphate pathway activities were measured in rat erythrocytes. The measurements were done at 35, 25 and 15°C under pH-stat and α-stat (constant ionization ratio of imidazole groups of histidine) regimes. 2. 2.The effects of temperature were less under the α-stat than under the pH-stat regime implying a significant role for histidine in the operation of the two major pathways of red cell metabolism. 3. 3.Current storage solutions show a Δ pH ° C which is intermediate between that of α-stat and that of pH-stat regimes. The implications of the data are that an α-stat storage regime woule lessen storage problems caused by decreased adenylates, ion imbalance and free radical production.