Guthrie test for phenylketonuria
Guthrie test results...
Guthrie test
The Guthrie test, also known as the Guthrie bacterial inhibition assay, is a medical test performed on newborn infants to detect phenylketonuria, an inborn error of amino acidmetabolism.
The test has been widely used throughout North America and Europe as one of the core newborn screening tests since the late 1960s. In recent years it is gradually being replaced in many areas by newer techniques such as tandem mass spectrometry that can detect a wider variety of congenital diseases.
Guthrie bacterial inhibition test
The Guthrie test is named after Robert Guthrie, an American bacteriologist and physician, who devised it in 1962.
Theory and method
The Guthrie test is a semiquantitative assay designed to detect elevated blood levels of the amino acid phenylalanine, using the ability of phenylalanine to facilitate bacterial growth in a culture medium with an inhibitor.
A drop of blood is usually obtained by pricking the heel of a newborn infant in a hospital nursery on the second or third d