The Influence of Temperature on

This study was undertaken to examine the influence of temperature on physical prop-erties of red cell membranes. Red cells adhering to cover slips were subjected to fluid shear stress in a rotating disc ap-paratus for 1 mm or for 10 mm at temper-atures ranging from 2 ’ to 50’C. They were fixed while subject to shear stress by ad-dition of glutaraldehyde and then pro-cessed for examination and photography by reflected-light microscopy. Cell dimen-sions were obtained with a computerized planimeter. At shear stresses under 2 dynes/sq cm, cells changed shape from biconcave discs to tear drops, the dimen