The effect of cholesterol depletion on potassium tracer fluxes was studied in sheep red cells. Removal by the plasma incubation method (5, 12, 30) of approximately 31 and 34% membrane cholesterol from high-potassium (HK) and low-potassium (LK) sheep red cells, respectively, did not induce significant changes in the steady-state cation composition of these cells nor in their passive (leak) and active (pump) K+ influxes. In cholesterol-depleted LK sheep red cells, there was no impairment nor augmentation of the Lp an antibody stimulated K+ pump flux and L1-antibody-mediated reduction of K+ leak flux indicating that the removed cholesterol does not contribute to the activity of the Lp and L1 antigens.
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