THe level of enzyme activity, the enzyme thermostability profile, and the isozyme electrophoretic pattern were determined in young and old erythrocytes from newborn infants and adults and in samples from adult individuals with increased reticulocyte counts. Cord blood samples had higher levels of enzymatic activity for 12 of the 14 enzymes measured, adenylate kinase and phosphoglucomutase being the exceptions. The largest differences in activity between newborns and adults were for glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, hexokinase, glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase, and glutathione reductase, while glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase and pyruvate kinase showed the largest differences between young and old cells. The levels of activity of glutathione reductase, adenylate kinase, phosphoglucomutase, lactate dehydrogenase, phosphoglycerokinase, and glucose phosphate isomerase in cord blood samples suggest the regulation of expression of these enzymes is different in fetal erythrocytes than in erythrocytes from an adult. Differences in the thermostability profile of enzymes from cells from different sources and/or of different ages were noted for 5 of 9 enzymes. No unique electrophoretically identifiable fetal isozymes were observed, although differences in isozyme distribution and staining intensity associated with cell source and/or cell age were noted for many of the 23 enzymes examined. Many of these differences in enzyme characteristics have the potential to be confused with genetic alterations in enzyme structure and function.