Comparative study of erythrocyte glycolytic enzymes in man and in two species of Lagomorphae. (Ochotona rufescens rufescens and Oryctolagus cuniculus).

The authors made a comparative study of red cell enzyme glycolysis in man and in two species of Lagomorphae, the pika and the rabbit. The activities of the 12 enzymes of Embden-Meyerhoff pathway and of the two dehydrogenases of pentose shunt (glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase) were determined. Phosphoglycerate kinase and pyruvate kinase showed quite similar activities in pika erythrocytes and in erythrocytes from human umbilical cord. The levels of these enzymes differed significantly in the pika and in the rabbit. No differences were noted between pyruvate kinases from the rabbit and the neonatal man. The other activities gave values either identical to those found in the adult man or intermediate between the adult and the neonatal man. In the rabbit the levels of glycolitic enzymes were generally lower than in the pika except for lactate dehydrogenase and glycose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. Some characteristics of erythrocyte metabolism specific to the pika may account for the differences observed in this species. The influence of red cell age cannot explain the variations observed for no significant reticulocytosis was observed in the circulating blood. The percentages found in the pika and the rabbit were essentially identical at determination.