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MBBS QUESTION #10349
Question 1
A patient with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency develops acute hemolytic anemia after taking an oxidant drug such as primaquine or dapsone, or after eating fava beans. This is best explained by:
  • Reduced NADPH production impairing regeneration of reduced glutathione, leaving red cells vulnerable to oxidative damage from free radicals and peroxides generated by the offending trigger✔️
  • Excess NADPH directly lysing red blood cells
  • A primary structural defect in the hemoglobin molecule itself
  • Deficient ATP production within red blood cells due to a glycolytic block
Correct Answer Explanation
G6PD deficiency reduces the red cell's capacity to regenerate NADPH (and thus reduced glutathione) via the HMP shunt, its only NADPH source, since mature red cells lack mitochondria; under oxidative stress, hemoglobin and membrane proteins are damaged, producing Heinz bodies and hemolysis, classically precipitated by oxidant drugs, infection, or fava bean ingestion.