Alpha-1-antitrypsin levels and phenotypes in some healthy Nigerians--. A preliminary report.

Levels of serum Alpha-1-Antitrypsin were determined in 59 healthy adults and in-cord samples of 42 newborn Nigerians using the immunochemical method of Mancini. The protease inhibitor phenotypes were also determined in these samples by Iso-electric focusing in an LKB multiphor electrophoresis system. The mean adult serum level was 106% of internationally accepted levels. The mean cord level was 75% of the adult mean. The finding of a rare genetic variant 'S' in two of the 96 sera is higher than figures hitherto quoted in the literature. We thus believe that it will be very interesting to study a larger sample of Nigerians in the future.