[Distribution of different phenotypes of paraoxonase in a French population]

Earlier studies show that there is a polymorphism of the paraoxonase and that the heterozygous phenotype can be distinguished from both homozygous phenotypes, by studying the ratio of paraoxonase to arylesterase activities. The separation of the three phenotypes of the paraoxonase was possible on our population using the same techniques as Eckerson et al. and by a statistic method from Schroeder, 32 families have been studied. The gene frequencies for the A and B alleles are: 0.6875 and 0.3125 respectively in a french population. They are very close to those of an American Caucasian population: A: 0.685 and B: 0.315 of Eckerson et al.