Abstract
Erythrocyte metabolism was studied in the white-handed gibbon (Hylobatus leucogenys), the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) and the lion (Panthera leo). Aspects of metabolism studied were activities of the enzymes associated with glycolysis and the antioxidant defence systems, glycolytic rates using four different substrates and the susceptibility of haemoglobin to three different oxidising agents, acetylphenylhydrazine (APH), hydrogen peroxide (H202) and sodium nitrite (NaNO2). The main findings were as follows. First, compared with humans, the erythrocytes from the gibbon were more resistant to H202-induced haemolysis and had very high activity of NADH-methaemoglobin reductase. Oxidation of haemoglobin by NaNO2 was largely blocked by 0.1 mM GSH. Second, the erythrocytes from the lion had a very high activity of pyruvate kinase (PK). The rate of methaemoglobin formation by APH was also very high in these erythrocytes. Third, the erythrocytes of the elephant had very low levels of hexokinase and PK and were more resistant to oxidant stress than those of the lion and humans.
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Agar, N.S., Gay, C.A. Erythrocyte metabolism in the gibbon, the elephant and the lion. Comp Haematol Int 5, 158–162 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00368038
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00368038