Blood, 1958, Vol. 13, No. 12, pp. 1113-1125.
© 1958 American Society of Hematology, Inc.
Acute Hemolytic Anemia in the Newborn Infant due to
Naphthalene Poisoning: Report of Two Cases, with
Investigations into the Mechanism of the Disease
JEAN P. DAWSON 1,
WILLIAM W. THAYER 1,
JANE F. DESFORGES 1,
Alice C. Manchester 1, and
Reda Lendraitis 1
1 Tufts Hematology Laboratory, the First and Third Tufts Medical Services
and Department of Pediatrics, Boston City Hospital, Boston, Mass.
1. Two cases of naphthalene hemolytic anemia in the newborn period are
reported.
2. Both exhibited glutathione instability upon incubation with acetyl phenylhydrazine and naphthol months to years later. Several members of their
families exhibited a similar defect with evidence that it is inherited as a simple
dominant.
3. In those individuals with glutathione instability there was deficient
TPNH2 generation by their hemolysates in the presence of glucose-6-phosphate
and TPN, indicating a deficiency in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity. Glutathione reductase activity was normal or decreased.
4. TPNH2-linked reduction of methemoglobin by erythrocyte suspensions
in the presence of glucose and methylene blue was also decreased in those
subjects tested, a finding consistent with the deficiency in glucose-6-phosphate
dehydrogenase.
Submitted on March 14, 1958
Accepted on May 31, 1958
