A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF HEMOGLOBIN DETERMINATION BY VARIOUS METHODS

Abstract

The regeneration of hemoglobin and red cells following simple anemia has been studied in this laboratory for more than 2 years.A preliminary report of this work by Whipple and Hooper ( 13) has appeared and it is obvious that this curve of hemoglobin regeneration can be influenced by a number of diet factors.In this work it is essential that there be an accurate determination of hemoglobin.For this reason a comparative study of many hemoglobin methods was undertaken.It is believed that the method finally adopted for this work will be of value to other workers in the experimental field as well as to hospital and school laboratories where routine hemoglobin readings are so frequent.It need not be stated that much of the work expended upon routine hemoglobin determination is a total loss because the instrument used has not been standardized or the method is inaccurate.Too little.is known as to the normal hemoglobin value in human beings as affected by age, altitude, climate, etc.No comparison is possible until some accurate standard is adopted for the routine work.The earlier anemia work in this laboratory was done with Sahli's method using his modification of Gowers' instrument.It was soon apparent that incorrect results were being obtained and that the hemoglobin percentages were considerably higher than they should be when correlated with the other blood findings.The standard color tubes when checked against the oxygen capacity method of Van Slyke (12) showed great variations in color density.New tubes were purchased and when standardized showed much fading varying 'from 5 to 20 per cent.The 209