Adenine Nucleotide Content of Red Blood Cells of Normal Individuals and of Patients Suffering from Hodgkin’s Disease and Other Diseases

Levels of adenine nucleotides in the blood were determined, using an enzymatic spectrophotometric method.

The levels were determined for a large group of normal persons and a larger group of patients chronically ill from a variety of malignant and degenerative diseases.

The values for adenyl nucleotides were usually normal; a tendency to increased concentration occurred chiefly in anemia.

The varying degrees of increased concentration could not be related to the severity of the anemia or to physical alteration of the red cell. There was probably some relationship to an altered metabolism within the red cell—possibly glycolysis—which in turn might be linked to changes in concentration of electrolytes of the red blood cell, a fact observed in anemia.