Human erythrocyte metabolism studies by 1H spin echo NMR

On account of their ready availability and comparatively simple cell physiology, red cells have been studied more intensively than any other mammalian cell system [ I]. These studies have involved a wide range of physical and chemical techniques. Within the last four years, NMR has been added to this list of techniques by the use of both 31P [2,3] and 13C [4] in studies of whole red cells. NMR has a unique advantage over most investigation procedures in that it allows a non-invasive inspection of even the most delicately balanced system. This property has been used to advantage in studying a range of complex, intact systems such as muscle [5], bacteria [6,7] and chromaffin granules [8,9]. The limited distribution of a nucleus such as 3’P relative to ‘H within biological systems has, until recently, made it advantageous to trade the lower sensitivity of the 31P nucleus for the much greater spectral simplicity. The ubiquity of the hydrogen nucleus in biological systems combined with the nonselective nature of the NMR method usually leads to a broad undecipherable envelope. However, the recent