STUDIES IN THE COMPARTMENTALIZATION OF TRACE-ELEMENTS IN THE BLOOD OFPATIENTS WITH SICKLE-CELL-ANEMIA USING PIXE TECHNIQUE

Concentrations of trace elements in the whole blood, plasma and erythr ocytes of 77 individuals (20 Carrying the HbSS genotype, 21 with HbAS and 36 with HbAA) were determined using a PIXE facility employing a 2 MeV proton beam. Up to 16 elements were detected in some or all of the samples. The skewness of elemental distribution was measured for each element in the three bloodflow compartments. Most of the essential el ements, apart from selenium were distinctly packed in either the eryth rocytes or the plasma. Results of the t-test employed to compare eleme ntal values between sickle cell subjects and matched controls show sim ilar patterns in the three compartments for some of the elements. The results are compared with previous work using INAA.