[Methemoglobinemia and acidosis during the first week of life]

Recently attention has been called on the possible role of acidosis in the increased methemoglobin formation in the erythrocyte of newborn infant. In the present paper the relations between acidosis and methemoglobin content in the red cells of newborns has been investigated. No significant differences between the percent of methemoglobin in the normal newborns and percent of methemoglobin in the newborns with acidosis has been found. In addition, no correlations between the base excess and percent of methemoglobin has been observed. On the contrary, two newborns with low glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity demonstrated a significantly increased methemoglobin content in their red cells. The results of our study do not confirm a key role of acidosis in the mechanism of methemoglobin formation in the neonate. It is likely than impairment of red cell metabolism should be the main factor in the formation of methemoglobin in the first days of life.