P Nmr Studies of the Effect of Methemoglobin on Erythrocyte and Model Membranes

The importance of protein-lipid interactions [1] in modulating biological activity is becoming increasingly recognized. Among the many facets of this broad area of study, the interaction of different forms of hemoglobin with artificial lipid membranes [2] has been reported to influence both structure and dynamics of membranes C31*] • In the light of the above studies we have used P NMR to investigate whether methemoglobin alters the phase behaviour or structure of erythrocyte membranes and model membranes. This could be of importance in diseases such as malaria where the intracellular parasites degrade hemoglobin and red cell lysis occurs in the process of parasite propagation [5,6].