THE RELATION OF DIAPHORASE OF HUMAN ERYTHROCYTES TO INHERITANCE OF METHEMOGLOBINEMIA

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Abstract
Levels of diphosphopyridine nucleotide diaphorase activity were determined in erythrocytes of a group of 318 Eskimos and Indians, in which methemoglobinemia was relatively common. It was concluded that persons with methemoglobinemia had no measurable in erythrocytes and that heterozygotes, while they had no measurable methemoglobin, had about half the normal level of diaphorase. All data obtained were consistent with the inheritance of methemoglobinemia as a simple recessive trait due to lack of the diaphorase enzyme in red cells.