PEDIATRICS Vol. 39 No. 5 May 1967, pp. 689-695
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RED CELL METABOLISM IN THE PREMATURE INFANT

II. The Pentose Phosphate Pathway

Frank A. Oski M.D.1

1 Department of Pediatrics, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia General Hospital, and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia

Red cell glucose consumption and C14 O2 production from glucose-I-C14 and glucose-U-C14 were measured in 17 premature infants, 15 normal adults and 7 patients with reticulocytosis. The red cells from the premature infants consumed significantly more glucose and produced more C14 O2 than did the cells from normal adults but did not differ in this regard from patients with elevated reticulocyte counts. The percent of glucose metabolized by the pentose phosphate pathway in the red cells of the infants was as great, and often greater, than that observed in the other two groups. The red cells of the premature infants also demonstrated an ability to respond to methylene blue. The pentose phosphate pathway would appear to be intact in the red cells from these infants and inadequate generation of NADPH2 is not responsible for the ease with which these cells develop oxidative denaturation of hemoglobin.

Submitted on August 3, 1966
Accepted on October 27, 1966