a Study of the Electrical Impedance of Erythrocyte Membranes the Effects of Temperature and Radiation.

The purpose of this work was to investigate the electrical impedance properties of Human Erythrocytes suspended in normal saline and specifically how radiation and temperature affected these properties. The cells were obtained by venepuncture from normal adult volunteers, washed three times and resuspended in phosphate buffered saline. The cells were irradiated by ('60)Co gamma rays to doses varying from 500 to 20,000 rads. The electrical impedance was measured using a computerized measurement and data acquisition system developed in the Biophysics Laboratory, School of Physics, University of New South Wales. The measurements were performed employing a four terminal technique and a digitally synthesized sine wave. The measurements revealed that nonirradiated blood from any specific individual had reproducible electrical properties from day to day and that there were only small differences in the electrical properties of blood from the various individuals sampled. This data displayed complex structure in both the capacitance versus frequency and conductance versus frequency curves. Of great interest was the dependence on the time post venesection, indicating a continual change in the state of the cells after removal from their natural environment. The experiments also revealed a non linear temperature dependence and a significant change in the suspension impedance as a function of absorbed dose. A model of the system was introduced which was able to emulate most of the measured phenomena. Studies of how the model can be adapted to fit the measured data for various cases (eg. time, temperature, radiation dose) suggested various physiological processes occurring within the membrane. The results were indicative of effects such as radiation induced changes in the lipid hydrocarbon region, the presence of a complex protein structure, the dissociation of charge within the protein, the presence of electrogenic pumps, and the destruction of the lipid matrix by radiation induced lipid peroxidation.