THE EFFECT OF PHENYLHYDRAZINE ON THE ADENOSINE TRIPHOSPHATE CONTENT OF NORMAL AND GLUCOSE-6-PHOSPHATE DEHYDROGENASE-DEFICIENT HUMAN BLOOD*

Abstract

There is a marked fall in erythrocyte adenosine triphosphate (ATP) levels in blood from both normal and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficient individuals after 8 hours incubation with phenylhydrazine. The fall in ATP can be partially prevented by glucose in both types of blood, but the protective effect of glucose is less in G6PD-deficient blood. The data indicate that the fall in ATP is due to an increased rate in the breakdown of ATP rather than interference with its regeneration. In these experiments the ATP was measured by ion exchange column chromatogrphy employing Dowex-1 formate resin.