✍ Scribed by Gianfranco Cossu; Mario Manca; M. Gavina Pirastru; Renza Bullitta; Adriana Bianchi Bosisio; Elisabetta Gianazza; Pier Giorgio Righetti
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
As an alternative to the recently proposed screening for β‐thalassemias by isoelectric focusing (IEF) of denatured globin chains in urea‐detergent gels [6], IEF of intact hemoglobins, obtained from umbilical cord blood in neonatal units, is reported here. For maximum separation, IEF should be performed in nonlinear pH gradients, in gels containing 0.2 M β‐alanine and 0.2 M 6‐amino caproic acid, which flatten the pH gradient around pH 7, thus increasing the resolution between HbA and HbF~ac~. The method can unambiguously detect homozygous and heterozygous β‐thalassemic conditions. A bimodal distribution of HbA at birth has been found: In heterozygous patients, HbA values of 9.02% (range 6.8–9.98%) have been found while in normal newborns HbA levels of 20.34% (range 11.02–30.6%) have been demonstrated.
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