[New data on characteristics of the chemism of erythrocytes in patients with metabolic-alimentary obesity].

A study was made of the erythrocytic membranes in patients with stage II-III metabolic and alimentary obesity. The red blood cells may serve as model of the membranes of other cells of the internal organs, that is why their changes are likely to mirror the total impairment of the function of the cell membranes in the illness under consideration. The patients' red blood cells were characterized by high permeability, increased ATPase activity, catalase activation, reduction of the content of the thiol groups, and by the displacement of the thiol-disulfide balance towards oxidized forms. A correlation was discovered between the elevation of red blood cell permeability and red blood cell K+, Na+-ATPase activation. The changes in the thiol-disulfide balance brought about inconclusive shifts in the magnitude of permeability, in the activity of ATPase isoenzymes, and in the content of cholesterol fractions in red blood cells of patients with metabolic and alimentary obesity. The changes thus discovered are of paramount importance for understanding the pathogenesis of metabolic abnormalities associated with obesity and for rational treatment of this patients' group.