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Comparison of the number of anti-L-binding sites on LK goat red cells with the number of Na–K pumps

Abstract

SHEEP1, goats2, possums3 and some other species are unusual mammals in that the red cells of individual animals have either high (HK) or low (LK) concentrations of potassium, which correlate with the activity of the Na–K pump. The pump of LK cells is less active than that of HK cells4,5. When LK sheep red cells are injected into HK sheep an antibody of the IgG class (anti-L) is raised which, when reacted with LK sheep or goat red cells, stimulates the pump5,6. In goat cells the major, if not the only, effect of the antibody is to reduce the affinity of the pump for K at the inside cell surface, and that stimulation results from the relative increase in the effectiveness of Na as a substrate. It has been reported that in sheep, anti-L also increases the maximal pump rate8. The antibody might function by binding either to the pump, and so altering its kinetic characteristics, or to another component of the cell surface, indirectly altering the environment of the pump. If it combines with the pump, the number of anti-L molecules bound should be about the same as the number of pumps. We have now confirmed this using an estimate of the number of pumps of LK goat cells obtained with 3H-ouabain9, and our own estimate of the number of 131I-labelled antibody molecules bound when the pump is stimulated maximally. We used LK goat red cells as LK sheep red cells seem to contain a second antigen in addition to the antigen associated with pump stimulation5,10.

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KROPP, D., SACHS, J. Comparison of the number of anti-L-binding sites on LK goat red cells with the number of Na–K pumps. Nature 252, 244–246 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/252244a0

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