Activity of the respiratory inhibitor RF in human red cells in anaemia.

Stroma-free haemolysates of red cells from patients with acute or latent anaemia inhibit the NADH oxidase activity of submitochondrial particles from beef heart. The inhibitory activities appeared significantly more frequently in anaemic patients than in normal persons and are likely due to the action of a factor which is identical or similar to the inhibitory protein RF present in rabbit reticulocytes. The possible use of the inhibitor assay for clinical purpose is under discussion.