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. 1964 Jul 18;91(3):105–114.

Case Finding in Phenylketonuria

II. The Guthrie Test

M W Partington, Barbara Sinnott
PMCID: PMC1927280  PMID: 14174526

Abstract

Experience with over 6000 Guthrie tests is presented. This test is a screening procedure for phenylketonuria using small amounts of blood spotted on a filter paper which are tested by a bacterial “inhibition assay”. Certain technical aspects of the test (e.g. relation between the concentration of phenylalanine in the blood and extent of the bacterial growth zones produced, type of filter paper, size of the blood spot on the paper) were investigated. It was shown that the Guthrie test clearly distinguishes between subjects with normal plasma phenylalanine levels and patients with untreated phenylketonuria.

Applications of the Guthrie test in screening a mental hospital population, admissions to a penitentiary and newborn babies are described.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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