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Molecular Deficiency of Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase in Primaquine Sensitivity

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Abstract

GENETICALLY determined deficiencies in activity of human glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G–6–PD) occur among various ethnic groups. The deficiency affecting 8–12 per cent of American Negro males is known as primaquine sensitivity and is incompletely expressed: affected persons have 7–15 per cent of the normal activity of erythrocytic G–6–PD and an even higher proportion of activity of this enzyme in some other tissues1,2. In view of similarities in qualitative characteristics between the partially purified G–6–PD of affected Negroes and that of normal persons, one of us has questioned the possibility that sensitive Negroes have a G–6–PD that is impaired in its catalytic efficiency (turnover number)3. A comparative examination of more extensively purified G–6–PD's seems to offer new evidence on this subject.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Children's Memorial Hospital, and Department of Biochemistry, University of Oklahoma School of Medicine, Oklahoma City, 4

    H. N. KIRKMAN & B. B. CROWELL

Authors
  1. H. N. KIRKMAN
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  2. B. B. CROWELL
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KIRKMAN, H., CROWELL, B. Molecular Deficiency of Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase in Primaquine Sensitivity. Nature 197, 286–287 (1963). https://doi.org/10.1038/197286a0

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