Pathological Analyses of Enzyme Deficiency in Human Erythrocyte Using E-CELL System

Human erythrocyte has been well-studied in last three decades, and extensive biochemical data on its enzymes and metabolites have been accumulated. Since the discovery of pyruvate kinase deficiency, erythroenzymopathies associated with hereditary hemolytic anemia have been extensively investigated. Last year, we started to construct a simulation model of human erythrocyte. The first prototype of our cell model, which was completed in March of 1999, consists of the glycolysis pathway, the pentose phosphate pathway, and the nucleotide metabolism. Parameters of their kinetic equations are all based on experimental data found in the literature. In this work, we obtained the steady state of the normal erythrocyte. The model was then modified in parameters to simulate enzyme deficiencies such as Pyruvate kinase (PK) deficiency.