Red cell NADH diaphorase variants in Japanese

Human red cell NADH diaphorase isozyme patterns were examined in 5,046 healthy adult Japanese by starch gel electrophoresis. Twenty had Dia 2-1 and 3 had Dia 4-1 phenotypes. The incidence of Dia variants in patients with mental retardation, cerebral palsy, epilepsy and Down's syndrome was also examined and compared with that of healthy people. It was noticed that thin-layer isoelectric focusing on polyacrylamide gel was very useful for discriminating variant bands from 'aging bands'.