Erythrocyte glutathione synthetase in 5-oxoprolinuria: kinetic studies of the mutant enzyme and detection of heterozygotes.

The primary metabolic defect in 5-oxoprolinuria is a generalized deficiency of glutathione synthetase. The activity of this enzyme was determined in cell-free extracts of erythrocytes from patients with 5-oxoprolinuria, their parents and a sibling as well as from normal control individuals. The following activities (pkat/mg of hemoglobin) for glutathione synthetase were obtained: homozygotes mean 0.