Interference in the measurement of red cell glycogen by glycogen from white cells

An enzymatic method for determining red cell glycogen was developed and its recovery and precision ascertained. Initial red cell glycogen values in 24 healthy volunteers ranged from 11-60 micrograms/g haemoglobin which compares with 20-105 micrograms/g haemoglobin previously reported. More thorough removal of leucocytes suggested however that variations in the determined red cell glycogen were due to glycogen derived from leucocytes. In 34 red cell preparations with varying leucocyte numbers, the glycogen concentration correlated positively with leucocyte count (r = +0.81, p less than 0.001), whereas glycogen concentration showed poor correlation with red cell count (r = -0.30, 0.1 greater than p greater than 0.05). The results question the reported presence of glycogen in normal red cells and suggest that contamination by leucocytes has been responsible for the previously reported normal range.