Amphiphile-induced incorporation of a substance into cells

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Amphiphile-induced tetraethylammonium ion (TEA^+) uptake into human erythrocytes was examined along with cell shape change. A TEA^+-sensitive electrode was used to determine the amount of uptake. The use of an ion-sensitive electrode has the inherent advantage of being simple, easy, and especially capable of detection without separation from assay mixtures. It was found that TEA^+ was preferentially incorporated into erythrocytes when amphiphiles changed cell shape to an invaginated form. This was contrasted with the release of acetylcholinesterase outside cells which occurred markedly with the amphiphiles, causing the crenated form. It was suggested that the invagination of erythrocyte membrane stimulated the formation of vacuoles, in which TEA^+ existing in an external medium was entrapped.Through this research, we further elucidated the mechanism of shape changes of human erythrocytes induced by biologically active peptides and developed a new method to determine adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP) and to determine a channel size formed in membrane by a potentiometric method. These results were all published and can be seen through references described on the back of this paper.