Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Bulletin of the World Health Organization logoLink to Bulletin of the World Health Organization
. 1966;35(2):165–179.

The haemolytic effects of diaphenylsulfone (DDS) in normal subjects and in those with glucose-6-phosphate-dehydrogenase deficiency*

Richard L Degowin, R Bennett Eppes, Robin D Powell, Paul E Carson
PMCID: PMC2476117  PMID: 5297001

Abstract

The need to investigate further the phenomenon of sulfone-induced haemolysis is becoming greater as the use of sulfones may increase, particularly for malaria therapy in areas where Plasmodium falciparum is found to be resistant to chloroquine. The authors report on studies of the haemolytic effects of diaphenylsulfone (DDS) administered orally, in doses ranging from 25 mg to 300 mg daily for 21 days, to normal healthy men and to healthy Negro men with deficiency of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PD). The latter proved more susceptible to diaphenylsulfone-induced haemolysis than did normal men. There was a direct relationship between the dose of diaphenylsulfone and the extent of haemolysis in both groups of men studied. Comparison of the haemolytic effects of diaphenylsulfone with those of the antimalarial drug primaquine revealed that, on a dose for weight basis, diaphenylsulfone is more haemolytic than primaquine in normal persons and less so in G-6-PD-deficient persons. A marked decrease in the content of reduced glutathione (GSH) in red cells, comparable to the changes in levels of erythrocytic GSH known to occur during primaquine-induced haemolysis, occurred just before and early during the acute haemolytic episode that resulted from administration of diaphenylsulfone to G-6-PD-deficient subjects; in contrast, levels of erythrocytic GSH increased early during the course of diaphenylsulfone-induced haemolysis in normal men.

Full text

PDF
165

Selected References

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

  1. ALLDAY E. J., BARNES J. Toxic effects of diaminodiphenylsulphone in treatment of leprosy. Lancet. 1951 Aug 4;2(6675):205–206. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(51)91443-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. ALLISON A. C., BURN G. P. Enzyme activity as a function of age in the human erythrocyte. Br J Haematol. 1955 Jul;1(3):291–303. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2141.1955.tb05511.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. ANNINO J. S. AN OBSERVATION CONCERNING THE BRATTON-MARSHALL DIAZO REACTION IN SULFONAMIDE-FREE URINE. Clin Chem. 1964 Apr;10:370–371. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. BEUTLER E., DERN R. J., ALVING A. S. The hemolytic effect of primaquine. IV. The relationship of cell age to hemolysis. J Lab Clin Med. 1954 Sep;44(3):439–442. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. BEUTLER E., DURON O., KELLY B. M. Improved method for the determination of blood glutathione. J Lab Clin Med. 1963 May;61:882–888. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. BREWER G. J., POWELL R. D., SWANSON S. H., ALVING A. S. HEMOLYTIC EFFECT OF PRIMAQUINE. XVII. HEXOKINASE ACTIVITY OF GLUCOSE-6-PHOSPHATE DEHYDROGENASE-DEFICIENT AND NORMAL ERYTHROCYTES. J Lab Clin Med. 1964 Oct;64:601–612. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. BREWER G. J., TARLOV A. R., ALVING A. S. The methemoglobin reduction test for primaquine-type sensitivity of erythrocytes. A simplified procedure for detecting a specific hypersusceptibility to drug hemolysis. JAMA. 1962 May 5;180:386–388. doi: 10.1001/jama.1962.03050180032008. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Chan T. K., Todd D., Wong C. C. Tissue enzyme levels in erythrocyte glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency. J Lab Clin Med. 1965 Dec;66(6):937–942. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. DERN R. J., BEUTLER E., ALVING A. S. The hemolytic effect of primaquine. V. Primaquine sensitivity as a manifestation of a multiple drug sensitivity. J Lab Clin Med. 1955 Jan;45(1):30–39. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. DESFORGES J. F., THAYER W. W., DAWSON J. P. Hemolytic anemia induced by sulfoxone therapy, with investigations into the mechanisms of its production. Am J Med. 1959 Jul;27(1):132–136. doi: 10.1016/0002-9343(59)90067-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Degowin R. L., Eppes R. B., Carson P. E., Powell R. D. The effects of diaphenylsulfone (DDS) against chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum. Bull World Health Organ. 1966;34(5):671–681. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. FLANAGAN C. L., SCHRIER S. L., CARSON P. E., ALVING A. S. The hemolytic effect of primaquine. VIII. The effect of drug administration on parameters of primaquine sensitivity. J Lab Clin Med. 1958 Apr;51(4):600–608. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. GISSLEN H., HERSLE K. LABORATORY INVESTIGATIONS IN SULPHONE-INDUCED HAEMOLYTIC ANAEMIA. Br J Dermatol. 1964 Jul;76:315–317. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2133.1964.tb14535.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. GLOCK G. E., McLEAN P. Further studies on the properties and assay of glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase of rat liver. Biochem J. 1953 Oct;55(3):400–408. doi: 10.1042/bj0550400. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. GRUNERT R. R., PHILLIPS P. H. A modification of the nitroprusside method of analysis for glutathione. Arch Biochem. 1951 Feb;30(2):217–225. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. LORINCZ A. L., PEARSON R. W. Sulfapyridine and sulfone type drugs in dermatology. Arch Dermatol. 1962 Jan;85:2–16. doi: 10.1001/archderm.1962.01590010008002. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. MOLESWORTH B. D., NARAYANASWAMI P. S. The treatment of lepromatous leprosy with 4:4'-diaminodiphenyl sulfone in oil; findings in 100 cases treated for one year. Int J Lepr. 1949 Jul-Sep;17(3):197-210, 5 pl. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. MORGAN J. K., MARSDEN C. W., COBURN J. G., MUNGAVIN J. M. Dapsone in dermatitis herpetiformis. Lancet. 1955 Jun 11;268(6876):1197–1200. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(55)90692-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. PENGELLY C. D. DAPSONE-INDUCED HAEMOLYSIS. Br Med J. 1963 Sep 14;2(5358):662–664. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.5358.662. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. PRANKERD T. A. The ageing of red cells. J Physiol. 1958 Sep 23;143(2):325–331. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1958.sp006062. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Prins H. K., Oort M., Zürcher C., Beckers T. Congenital nonspherocytic hemolytic anemia, associated with glutathione deficiency of the erythrocytes. Hematologic, biochemical and genetic studies. Blood. 1966 Feb;27(2):145–166. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. RIGAS D. A., KOLER R. D. Erythrocyte enzymes and reduced glutathione (GSH) in hemoglobin H disease: relation to cell age and denaturation of hemoglobin H. J Lab Clin Med. 1961 Sep;58:417–424. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. SMITH R. S., ALEXANDER S. Heinz-body anaemia due to dapsone. Br Med J. 1959 Mar 7;1(5122):625–627. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.5122.625. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. SPEAR P. W., SASS M. D. SOME CURRENT CONCEPTS OF RED CELL METABOLISM. I. METABOLIC PROCESSES IN THE RED CELL. Metabolism. 1964 Oct;13:911–928. doi: 10.1016/0026-0495(64)90081-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. STANFIELD J. P. A CASE OF ACUTE POISONING WITH DAPSONE. J Trop Med Hyg. 1963 Nov;66:292–295. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. TARLOV A. R., BREWER G. J., CARSON P. E., ALVING A. S. Primaquine sensitivity. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency: an inborn error of metabolism of medical and biological significance. Arch Intern Med. 1962 Feb;109:209–234. doi: 10.1001/archinte.1962.03620140081013. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. TARLOV A. R., KELLERMEYER R. W. The hemolytic effect of primaquine. XI. Decreased catalase activity in primaquine-sensitive erythrocytes. J Lab Clin Med. 1961 Aug;58:204–216. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. ZINKHAM W. H., LENHARD R. E., Jr Metabolic abnormalities of erythrocytes from patients with congenital nonspherocytic hemolytic anemia. J Pediatr. 1959 Sep;55:319–336. doi: 10.1016/s0022-3476(59)80228-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Bulletin of the World Health Organization are provided here courtesy of World Health Organization

RESOURCES