Lysis of human red blood cells in the presence of various cosolvents. III. The relationship between hemolytic potential and structure

A novel in vitro hemolytic method was used by the authors to determine hemolytic potentials of various water miscible solvents. The novel method differs from the standard in vitro hemolytic method [Husa, W.J., and Adams, J.R., 'Isotonic Solutions. II. The Permeability of Red Corpuscles to Various Substances,' J. Am. Pharm. Assoc. Sci. Ed., 33, 329 (1944)] in that the red blood cell and solvent mixture is washed with normal saline to remove the solvent and any other substances which may interfere with the visible absorption spectrum of hemoglobin. LD50s for the lysis of red blood cells were used as measures of the solvents' hemolytic potentials and were obtained by mixing variable amounts of whole blood with a constant amount of solvent. The experimentally determined LD50s were regressed against the physico-chemical properties of the solvents using uni- and multivariate analysis. General relationships between the structures of the solvents and their hemolytic potential (LD50s) were obtained. A quantitative structure activity relationship was not obtained for the thirteen solvents studied. However, the hemolytic potential of methanol, ethanol, iso-propanol, n-propanol, and n-butanol was directly related to the alcohols' log (partition coefficient).