GELATION KINETICS OF DILUTE HEMOGLOBIN FROM SICKLE-CELL-ANEMIA PATIENTS

Non-ideal behavior of sickle cell hemoglobin (Hb S) and varying experi mental conditions have made gelling kinetic studies difficult. A new g elation kinetic procedure is developed in this study. This technique u ses low Hb S concentrations (20-fold less than in conventional methods ) without the need for a temperature jump. Gelation progress, monitore d with a newly developed turbidimetric procedure at 815 nm, was fitted to a mono-exponential and a sigmoid-E(max) models. These models allow ed precise definitions of gelation delay periods, rate of rapid Hb S g elation and a parameter, T-1/2 combines information from the delay and rapid gelation stages. All these parameters vary linearly with Hb S c oncentration. The merits of using T-1/2 are discussed.