Pyrimidine 5'nucleotidase and several other red cell enzyme activities in beta-thalassaemia trait

The activity of 18 red blood cell (RBC) enzymes and reduced glutathione (GSH) content were measured in 70 normal subjects, in 50 heterozygous beta-thalassaemia carriers and in 50 non-thalassaemic patients with haemolytic anaemia and high reticulocyte counts. In addition, pyrimidine 5'nucleotidase (P5N) activity was also determined in 34 patients with hypochromic, microcytic, iron deficiency anaemia. beta-Thalassaemia trait was associated with an increase in almost all of the enzyme activities, except for 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate synthetase (BPGS) and glutathione reductase (GR) which were normal and for acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and P5N which were slightly and markedly decreased respectively. The increases in enzyme activities were similar to those observed in patients with non-thalassaemic reticulocytosis except for glyceraldehydephosphate dehydrogenase (GAPD), phosphoglyceratekinase (PGK), pyruvate kinase (PK), glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and adenylate kinase (AK) which were higher than in non-thalassaemic group of patients with increased number of reticulocytes. No correlation was found between the severity of P5N deficiency and the intensity of basophilic stippling which was present in 46 of 50 thalassaemic carriers here studied. In addition, GSH content and UV absorption spectra of deproteinized thalassaemic RBC extracts were also found to be normal. The present findings provide further information on the metabolic status of RBC in beta-thalassaemia trait and suggest a possible molecular explanation for the frequently observed basophilic stippling in this disease.