Structural rearrangements in the aqueous phase of cell suspensions and protein solutions induced by a light-oxygen effect

Temperature-dependent transient processes initiated by a direct photogeneration of singlet oxygen in suspensions of human erythrocytes and solutions of serum albumin are studied. The processes appear as anomalous jumps in the temperature dependences of the deformability coefficient of erythrocytes and the refractive index of the extracellular medium and protein solution. In the temperature regions of anomalous jumps, cells and proteins transfer to a metastable state of a lower activity, but they can be isothermally photoreactivated. Simultaneously, a reversible rearrangement of the aqueous phase occurs near the cell and protein surfaces, accompanied by the formation of an extended corona (hydrogel). The transient processes are interpreted as phase transitions in the membrane of erythrocytes and conformation transitions in proteins. The interaction between erythrocytes and albumin via hydrogel is discovered (hydro-conformational interaction). A qualitative physical model of the early stages of the light-oxygen effect is proposed, in which collective magnetic interactions between the electron spins of oxygen molecules and the nuclear magnetic moments of protons in H₂O molecules play a dominant role.