The effect of membrane cholesterol depletion upon erythrocyte membrane-bound enzymes

The cholesterol content of normal human erythrocyte membranes (ghosts) was reduced by incubation of the ghosts with phosphatidylcholine (PC) liposomes for 4 h at 37 °C. As controls, ghosts were stored at 4 °C, incubated alone or incubated with PC liposomes saturated with cholesterol; none of these treatments altered membrane cholesterol content. The activities of three membrane-bound enzymes, spectrin kinase, band-3 protein kinase, and …