American buffalos have been studied for their hemoglobin and transferrin types, which show no detectable polymorphism (Braend and Stormont, 1963;Stormont, 1964). This report summarizes new data on erythrocytic glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6PGD) in this species.
Blood samples were collected in ACD vacutainer tubes from 45 male and 41 female buffalos from the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, Cache, Oklahoma. The whole blood, along with known positive and negative controls from man, was used to study the G6PD activity by the brilliant cresyl blue (BCB) decolorization technique of Motulsky and Campbell-Kraut (1961). The red blood cells were separated and washed in cold isotonic saline and lysed with an equal volume of distilled water. This lysate was treated with toluene, and the clear hemoglobin solution was separated after centrifugation. Hemoglobin concentration was adjusted to represent 1 : 100 dilution of red cells, and the solution was subjected to vertical starch gel electrophoresis by the method of Mathai et al. (1966) and Motulsky and Yoshida (1969), using the tris-EDTA-borate buffer system, pH 8.0, of Shaw and Koen (1968). Gel was prepared from 65 g hydrolyzed starch (Connaught) in 500 ml of gel buffer to which was added 10 mg NADP รท before degassing; the solution was then poured into a 10-channel electrophoresis tray. The tray was allowed to remain at room temperature for 30 min and at 0-4 C for 3-4 hr. The slotter was carefully removed, and 0.05 ml of the hemolysate was placed by micropipette into each slot. The slots were covered with petroleum jelly and the whole surface was covered with Saran Wrap. The cathode compartment