Levels of erythrocyte superoxide dismutase activity in Japanese people.

Levels of erythrocyte superoxide dismutase (SOD) activitiy in a sample of Japanese people were determined. Blood samples were taken from new-born infants, preschool children, young and old people who had no apparent diseases and also from three anemic patients. Erythrocyte SOD activities in different age groups had a nearly normal distribution. Females had slightly lower activities than males, although the difference was statistically insignificant. The distributions of SOD activities were 12.6 +/- 2.7 (m +/- SD) unit/mg Hb in young people and 11.4 +/- 3.0 in old people, indicating that erythrocyte SOD activity falls with aging. Because of low concentration of hemoglobin, SOD activities of old people expressed as unit/ml blood were much lower than in young people. Three anemic patients had slightly lower SOD activity (unit/mg Gb), but the difference was not significant.