ERYTHROCYTE CARBOHYDRATE METABOLISM IN HEREDITARY SPHEROCYTOSIS *

Hereditary spherocytosis (HS) has been a subject for studies of erythrocyte carbohydrate metabolism since 1954, when Selwyn and Dacie (1) observed that glucose corrected the increased lysis of HS erythrocytes incubated in autologous serum. Prankerd, Altman, and Young (2) re-ported abnormalities of incorporation of p32 into ATP 1 and 2,3-DPG with correction by adenosine. Tabechian, Altman, and Young (3) found the HS erythrocyte abnormally sensitive to inhibition of p32 uptake by sodium fluoride. These findings were interpreted as consistent with a defect in glycolysis, and enolase deficiency was specifically suggested (4). Recent studies of HS, however, have failed to confirm either an abnormality of phosphate partition (5, 6), or any deficiency in glycolytic enzymes (7). Thus, the relationship between erythrocyte carbohydrate metabolism and HS is still undefined. This paper reports the results of an evaluation of erythrocyte carbohydrate metabolism in HS by a different approach from that of previous studies. The changing concentrations of carbohydrate me-tabolites have been determined at intervals in in-cubating plasma-erythrocyte suspensions, and th