Amino acid concentrations in plasma and erythrocytes in aregeneratory and haemolytic anaemias.

The concentrations of unbound amino acids in erythrocytes and in plasma from 7 normal individuals, 11 patients with various types of aregeneratory anaemia, and 4 patients with hereditary haemolytic anaemias were determined on a Technicon Amino Acid Analyzer (Perry et al 1970). Most amino acids were normally found in higher concentrations in plasma than intracellularly. Cystine, methionine and trypotophan were almost exclusively present in plasma. Aspartic acid, however, was mainly found in erythrocytes, and glutathione only in erythrocytes. Glutamic acid and ornithine were more concentrated in the cells, while glycine and asparagine showed approximately the same concentrations in erythrocytes as in plasma. In the patients, plasma amino acids showed little deviations from normal, but in the erythrocytes there were striking changes. Erythrocyte glutamic acid concentrations were moderately to markedly elevated in all patients studied, and glycine concentrations in 13 out of 15 patients. In addition, the following amino acids were increased intracellularly in more than one patient: glutamine (8 patients), serine (7), asparagine (5), threonine (4), taurine (3), alanine (2), valine (2), ornithine (2), lysine (2), citrulline (2). Aspartic acid was decreased in erythrocytes from 4 patients with aregeneratory and 1 with haemolytic anaemia.