Abstracto
Methemoglobinization of diabetics blood with ethyl nitrite and hexyl nitrite.
John Philip Tarburton
The aim of this study was to assess the sensitivity of diabetics' blood to methemoglobinization compared to normal blood by ethyl nitrite and hexyl nitrite. Single factor ANOVA was calculated from the HbA1C values and the methemoglobinization times for ethyl nitrite and hexyl nitrite induced oxidations of 40 blood samples. A total of four groups were examined wherein n=20 for each group, i.e., group one consisted of ethyl nitrite treated type 2 diabetics blood; group two consisted of ethyl nitrite treated normal blood; group three consisted of hexyl nitrite treated type 2 diabetics blood; and group four consisted of hexyl nitrite treated normal blood. The blood samples used were identical for both of the nitrites employed in these studies. Thus for all the samples examined (n=80) an F value of 911.57 was calculated for these four groups which is greater than the F critical value of 2.73 so this means P<0.05. Post-hoc tests have revealed that the diabetics blood oxidation times differs significantly from normal blood (P<0.05). Data from all four groups (n=80) were used to get the best fit line Y=6.01-0.36X wherein X the independent variable=percent HbA1C and Y the dependent variable=methemoglobinization time in minutes. The standard error of estimate was 0.45 whereas the slope had an estimated standard error of 0.020. The coefficient of determination (r2) was found to be 0.86 which means that 86% of the total variation in y can be explained by the best fit line. This level of predictive acceptance is denoted as substantial. Because these nitrite esters differ only in the alkyl or R group attached to the ester this may well help to explain the high r2 value. In addition, this study demonstrates that a best fit line can be of good use to predict rates of hemoglobin oxidation times by these nitrite esters based solely on their HbA1C% value. It follows then that best fit lines based on empirical data are valuable tools to predict methemoglobinization time based just on HbA1C values for any alkyl nitrite.