What affect does ouabain have on tonicity Explain how red bl

–What affect does ouabain have on tonicity?

Explain how red blood cells ghost are made.

Solution

Tonicity measures the osmotic pressure gradient and determines the direction and extent of diffusion of solutes. Ouabain inhibits the sodium-potassium ion pump, thus leading to an increased level of intracellular sodium. This increase of sodium decreases the function of sodium-calcium exchanger. Sodium-calcium ion pumps three sodium ions into the cells and one calcium ions out of the cells, thus the concentration gradient. The decrease in the concentration gradient of sodium ions into the cells affects the sodium-calcium exchanger fuctions, thus, affecting the tonicity. There is an increase in the tonicity because of the effects of ouabain.

Red blood cells ghost are dead cells whose outline is visible but the nucleus and cytoplasm structures are not visible even by staining. Basically, it is a red blood cells with no hemoglobin present. Spectrin is a major protein component of human red blood cells. The red blood cells are treated by mild detergents. This detergents are capable of lysing the cells. While hemoglobin and other cytoplasmic components are washed out. Now under the light microscope, only the basic shape or outline could be seen because of the presence of spectrin. Spectrin is a cytoskeletal protein in red blood cells which lines the intracellular side of the plasma membrane. Thus, spectrin preserve the shape of the cell and is known as red blood cell ghost.