Variantes de butirilcolinesterasa sérica en población de Santiago oriente / Serum butyrylcholinesterase variants in eastern Santiago

ABSTRACT

Succinylcholine causes prolonged apneas in a proportion if subjects that have genetical defect of butyrylcholinesterase, due to the presence of unusual alleles in the locus BCHE. To estimate allele frequences of 3 variants of serum butyrylcholinesterase, BCHE*U, BCHE*A and BCHE*F in an urban population of Santiago, Chile, different phenotypes for the locus BCHE were determined in 300 blood samples coming from patients of a private clinical laboratory. The population was formed by an admixture of Amerindian and European (mostly spanich) people. The frequency of BCHE*A was similar to the expected for this population, but BCHE*F frequency was greater than predicted. Eight subjects had a genotype BCHE AK. The higher frequency found for BCHE*F is probably due to the use of more precise detection techniques. Although the used method cannot distinguish BCHE UK from BCHE UU, the findings of individuals with BCHE AK, must lead to the suspicion that the frequency of the allel BCHE K is not negligible in Santiago