Oxygen affinity as an index of hemoglobin S polymerization: A new micromethod

✍ Scribed by Ruth E. Benesch; Rohinton Edalji; Suzanna Kwong; Reinhold Benesch

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1978
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 556 KB
• Volume: 89
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0003-2697
• DOI: 10.1016/0003-2697(78)90737-6

✦ Synopsis

The decrease in oxygen aflinity with increasing hemoglobin concentration, which occurs in solutions of pure hemoglobin S, can be used to determine the minimum concentration at which polymerization of the deoxy form takes place. On this basis a very sensitive method for measuring the minimum gelling concentration has been developed. The influence of temperature, pH, and other hemoglobins on the end points obtained by this method is described. In all cases excellent agreement with the minimum gelling concentration determined directly on larger samples was observed. The results of this investigation demonstrate that the decrease in oxygen affinity of red cells containing hemoglobin S with increasing intracorpuscular hemoglobin concentration [May, A., and Huehns, E. R. (1975) Bri?. J. Haematof. 30, 3171 is a direct consequence of the gelling properties of hemoglobin S alone.