Porphyrias Are Characterized by Reduced Activity or a Deficiency of a Specific

Porphyrias are characterized by reduced activity or a deficiency of a specific enzyme.If methods were available to accurately measure activity of each enzyme in the heme synthetic pathway, why would the red blood cell not be a good place to quantify enzyme activity?

A) Red blood cells do not carry out heme synthesis.
B) Approximately half of heme synthesis in the red blood cell occurs within the mitochondrion, which is lost as these cells mature.
C) Enzyme assays cannot be performed on enzymes that are isolated with red blood cells.
D) Red blood cells must be hemolyzed to allow enzyme measurement, which would produce a spectral interference.