Use of a simplified spectrophotometric method for quantitative determination of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity in normal children from two day-care centers of the city of São Paulo

• Published in: Einstein (São Paulo, Brazil) Vol. 1; no. 2; pp. 89 - 94
• Main Author: Roberto Muller
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto Israelita de Ensino e Pesquisa Albert Einstein 01.06.2003
• Subjects: Adolescent; Anemia; Child; Child day care centers; Favism; Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase; hemolytic; Jaundice; neonatal; preschool; Quantitative analysis; Spectrophotometry
• ISSN: 1679-4508

Objective: To evaluate the applicability of a simplified method forquantitative determination of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenaseactivity in normal children; to determine the mean, standarddeviation and threshold value under which the enzyme activity isconsidered deficient. Methods: Blood samples were collected from201 children from two day-care centers in the city of São Paulo.The subjects were considered normal based on physicalexamination and laboratory tests. The enzyme activity wasdetermined in red blood cells of normal children using the “TestCombination G-6-PDH®” kit. The following statistical analyses werecarried out: the results were submitted to Student’s t test,Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, lower confidence interval (one-tailedtest) and Spearman’s correlation coefficient. Results: The meanhemoglobin value for girls was slightly higher than the mean valuefor boys, but this difference was not statistically significant. Therewas no statistical difference in mean enzyme activities for Caucasianand non-Caucasian children. There was no significant correlation amongenzyme activity levels, red blood cells, hemoglobin levels,hematocrit, reticulocytes, white blood cells and age of patients.The mean enzyme activity for boys was 4.448 U/g Hb, standarddeviation = 1.380 U/g Hb. For girls, the mean enzyme activity was4.531 U/g Hb, standard deviation = 1.386 U/g Hb, and the differencewas not statistically significant. Therefore, the two populationgroups were considered as one single population, presenting amean enzyme activity of 4.490 U/g Hb, standard deviation = 1.380 U/g Hb.Since the distribution curve of enzyme activity values was normal,a lower confidence interval was determined (one-tailed test), witha cutoff point of 2.227 U/g Hb. Conclusion: The method used bySolem proved to be simple, fast, very accurate and useful to detectglucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity and to identifychildren with enzyme deficiency.