Effect of G6PD Deficiency on Red Blood Cell Storage

The proposed study will determine whether G6PD-deficient RBCs store differently than normal RBCs under standard blood banking conditions. The investigators plan to screen a large number of healthy male volunteers for G6PD deficiency in order to identify 10 G6PD deficient and 30 matched normal individuals using a blood sample obtained from a finger-stick. The identified individuals will then be asked to donate a unit of blood that will be stored for up to 42 days and various tests will be performed on these units during storage. At 6 weeks of storage a portion of the unit will be radioactively labeled and re-infused into the volunteer. Blood samples will be drawn before, during, and after the infusion to measure how well or poorly the red blood cells survive after transfusion.