Ns. Agar et al., GLUCOSE-6-PHOSPHATE-DEHYDROGENASE AND OXIDANT SENSITIVITY OF ERYTHROCYTES OF 3 SPECIES OF WOMBATS, Comparative haematology international, 6(4), 1996, pp. 225-231
The investigations presented in this paper were undertaken to examine
the antioxidant defence systems in the erythrocytes of three extant sp
ecies of wombats: the common wombat (CW) (Vombatus ursinus), the south
ern hairy-nosed wombat (SHW) (Lasiorhinus latifrons) and the northern
hairy-nosed wombat (NHW) (Lasiorhinus krefftii). Some of the important
observations were: (1) the activity of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogen
ase was 5.14 +/- 0.96 enzyme units/g haemoglobin (EU/gHb) in CW, 35.69
+/- 1.02 EU in SHW and 30.71 +/- 1.49 EU in NHW and the levels of glu
cose phosphate isomerase were 40.1 +/- 3.39, 93.2 +/- 1.96 and 74.9 +/
- 4.9 EU/gHb, respectively and (2) the erythrocytes of CW were found t
o be more sensitive to oxidant stress as measured by the degree of lip
id peroxidation, haemolysis, number of Heinz bodies, and the methaemog
lobin formation in the intact cells and/or haemolysates treated with t
hree different oxidising agents-acetylphenylhydrazine, sodium nitrite
and hydrogen peroxide. The CW lives in a temperate environment and the
SHW, and NHW live in arid to semi-arid environments. The consequences
in terms of antioxidant defence requirements are discussed.