J. Gerritsma et al., Quantitative and qualitative analysis of haemoglobin variants using capillary zone electrophoresis, ANN CLIN BI, 37, 2000, pp. 380-389
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.