BLOOD LEVELS OF ADENINE NUCLEOTIDES 1

Recently a rapid reliable method was developed by one of us (13) for measuring total adenine, adenylic acid (AMP), adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP). We have applied this method to the study of blood since it is the only human tissue which can be conveniently studied. Before studies could be undertaken on pathologic bloods, we felt that normal bloods should be examined for total nucleotide content as well as for possible content of adenylic acid, adenosine diphosphate and adenosine triphosphate. That adenine nucleotides are present in blood has been known since 1914. The first completely adequate quantitative data are those of Buell in 1935 (14) who estimated total nucleotide nephelometrically after precipitating with uranium and then silver, from a neutralized trichloracetic acid filtrate. Apart from describing the procedure itself, Buell reported that the nucleotides are present principally in the red cells (indeed the value varies with the hematocrit); that the level for any one individual over a period of several months is fairly constant, and that the average value for males is about 11.5 mgm.%b and for females 10.0 mgm.%o (expressed as adenine). Our interest, as indicated above, was not only in the total nucleotide, but also in the constitution of the nucleotide. We also felt that the Buell procedure for estimating nucleotides was much too cumbersome. We, therefore, concentrated our attention on the preparation of filtrates which could