Polyphosphoinositide metabolism in aging human erythrocytes.

Normal human erythrocytes were fractionated in a density gradient. Capacity to metabolize polyphosphoinositides was compared in young (least dense) and old (most dense) cells. Polyphosphoinositide synthesis was assessed by following the incorporation of radioactivity from [gamma-32P]ATP into the 1-(3-sn-phosphatidyl)-D-myo-inositol 4-phosphate (PtdIns4P) and 1-(3-sn-phosphatidyl)-D-myo-inositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PtdIns(4,5)P2) of isolated membranes. There was no significant age-dependent change in the ability to synthesize PtdIns4P and PtdIns(4,5)P2 or in the response of the PtdIns and PtdIns4P kinases to Mg2+. The cytosolic Mg2+-dependent PtdIns(4,5)P2 phosphatase was also unaffected by age. The membrane cation-independent PtdIns4P phosphatase activity declined slightly (12%). Therefore, the capacity to catalyse the interconversion among the three phosphoinositides in the membrane is retained throughout the life of the erythrocyte. The Ca2+-dependent polyphosphoinositide phosphodiesterase activity in the membranes was reduced in old cells (57%) to the same extent as the glutamate-oxaloacetate transaminase activity used as an index of cell age. Thus, irreversible loss of polyphosphoinositide from the membrane by the action of this diesterase (prevented in healthy cells by the active maintenance of a very low intracellular Ca2+ concentration) is not very likely even in senescent cells when Ca2+ homeostasis begins to fail.