An Automated Screening Method for the Specific Detection of Homozygous and Heterozygous S Hemoglobin
Abstract
The Murayama test although a specific test for the molecular lesion of S hemoglobin, is not convenient for use in the detection of S hemoglobin in large human populations. The principles of that modification have been adapted to the automated technique described in this report. When S hemoglobin is introduced into the Sickledex working solution the S hemoglobin 'sickles,' constituting a nematic liquid crystal system. In that physical state of hemoglobin, this system acquires several remarkable properties including a marked gain in turbidity. From previous studies it was known that urea will selectively attack specified hydrophobic bonds necessary to the sickling event in S hemoglobin. Accordingly, it was found that when a specimen of S hemoglobin is divided and traversed in phase along two channels, a comparison of the percent transmittance of the two aliquots will show that the specimen in the urea-Sickledex line gains in percent transmittance as a quantitative function of the amount of S hemoglobin present. The method is sensitive enough to detect both homozygous and heterozygous S hemoglobin. An inexpensive, automated technique for the specific detection of S hemoglobin suitable for the mass survey of large human populations has been developed and is now available.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 17, 1970
- Accession Number
- AD0715744
Entities
People
- Bruce M. Nichols
- Frank R. Camp Jr.
- Paul L. Wolf
- Raymond L. Henry
- Robert M. Nalbandlan
Organizations
- United States Army Medical Research Laboratory