Background/Aims: In a variety of investigations described in the literature it was not clear to what extent the transmembrane potential red blood cells (RBCs) was changed after the cells have been transferred into low ionic strength (LIS) solutions. Another open question was to find out how fast the transmembrane potential of RBCs in LIS solution will change and which final new equilibrium value will be reached. Methods: The transmembrane potential of human and bovine RBCs was investigated using the potential-sensitive fluorescent dye DIBAC₄(3) (bis(1,3-dibutylbarbituric acid) trimethine oxonol) as well as the CCCP (carbonylcyanide-m-chlorophenylhydrazone) method. Results: Under physiological conditions the transmembrane potential was about -10 mV in agreement with literature data. However, when the RBCs were transferred into an isosmotic low ionic strength medium containing sucrose the transmembrane potential increased to +73 mV and +81 mV for human and bovine RBCs, respectively. In case of human RBCs it continuously decreased reaching finally an equilibrium state of -10 mV again after 30 - 60 min. For bovine RBCs the transmembrane potential declined more slowly reaching a value of +72 mV after 30 min. Conclusions: Investigations of parameters of RBCs depending on transmembrane potential cannot be performed with human RBCs in LIS media.

Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) and 1,2-palmitoyl-phosphatidic acid (DPPA) liposomes, prepared by conventional rotary evaporation method, have similar structural organization, though they have significant differences. The similarity is that both types of lipids create standard bilayer liposomes with strong hydrophobic forces between lipids tails and with homogeneous bonds of hydrogen and electrostatic nature between hydrophilic lipids heads. By the calorimetric method, it has been shown that hydrophobic bonds break but liposomes' destruction does not occur by heating till 150 °C. As for bonds between lipid heads in liposomes, their cooperative destruction takes place at 41 °C for DPPC and 66 °C for DPPA liposomes. In the case of thermal distraction of DPPC liposomes, two so-called pre transitions peaks were observed before the main transition peak, which indicates that DPPC liposomes' structure is multilamellar. DPPA liposomes have one cooperative heat absorption peak, which points to a unilamellar structure of such liposomes. Substances of hydrophobic/hydrophilic nature, incorporated into the liposomes, are placed in hydrophobic or hydrophilic parts of liposomes, which lead to a change in calorimetric peak shapes and thermodynamic parameters. It has been shown that gold nanoparticles, incorporated into the DPPC liposomes, are able to enter Caco-2 cells. In contrast, these nanoparticles do not enter red blood cells.

The interactions of two types of cells (red blood cells, Caco-2 cells) with magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (non-grafted, citrate-grafted, dendrimer-grafted) of 11 nm in size have been investigated. We focused on two important physiological parameters of the cells, the intracellular pH and the intracellular Ca 2+ content. The results show that the nanoparticles do not have a significant influence on the pH and Ca 2+ content of Caco-2 cells. The Ca 2+ content of red blood cells is also not affected but the intracellular pH is slightly reduced.

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