ANEWINHRRITRDABNORMALITY OFHUMAN ERYTHRCCYTES- ELEVATED ERYTHROCYTIC ADRNOSINE TRIPHOSPHATW

During a comparative study of the content of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in the erythrocytes of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PD) deficient and normal subjects, a G-6-PD deficient Negro man who exhibited twice the normal level of ATP in his erythrocytee was observed (Brewer, June, 1964). Bis level of ATP was 6-7 standard deviations above the nor-mal mean. The family of this individual has been studied and the results indicate that this abnormality of ATP metabolism irs inherited. The study of the family, in addition to the results of a survey of the Negro pop-ulation carried out while looking for other examples of the abnormality, form the basis of this report. Materials and Method.9 Subjects: The propositus of the family with elevated erythrocytic ATP and most of the other affected members of the kindred are clinically and hematologically normal. The unrelated Negro male and female sub-jects forming the control group were primarily individuals from whom blood samples were drawn in the outpatient laboratory, University Hos