Quantitative and qualitative analysis of haemoglobin variants using capillary zone electrophoresis

Capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) has been introduced into the clinical chemistry laboratory because of its range of potential applications. In thi s paper, we evaluate an alkaline CZE method for the quantification of HbA(2 ) and HbF and also assess the combination of the alkaline CZE method with a n acid CZE method for the determination of haemoglobin variants in an autom ated fashion. Correlation of the HbA(2)% determined between the HbA(2)-CZE method (alkaline conditions) and the Helena Sickle Thal Quick Column(R-) me thod was good (r = 0.91). The correlation between the HbF% determined by th e HbA(2) CZE method and by the alkaline denaturation method was acceptable (r = 0.81). The HbA2-CZE method was able to identify a large number of haem oglobin variants. The variants HbC and HbE or HbS and HbD, however, had the same characteristics under alkaline conditions and could therefore not be discriminated from each other. The identification of these overlapping vari ants could be accomplished by the analysis of the blood specimens in combin ation with the HbA(1c)-CZE method (acid conditions). We conclude that the p resented applications for capillary zone electrophoresis can be used for qu antitative and qualitative analysis of haemoglobin variants.