Abstract

It has been observed that all of the erythrocytes of individuals with sickle-cell trait undergo sickling and that a greater reduction in partial pressure of oxygen is required to produce complete sickling in sickle-cell trait erythrocytes than in those of sickle-cell anemics (1). These observations indicate that each sicklemia erythrocyte contains both normal hemoglobin and sickle-cell anemia hemoglobin. In a pooled sample of blood from five sicklemic individuals the ratio of t,he abnormal to the normal hemoglobin was found to be 39:61 (7). In the light of this knowledge it was considered pertinent to ascertain the extent of the variation of the ratio of sickle-cell anemia hemoglobin (SCA hemoglobin) to normal hemoglobin in sicklemic individuals and the effect of various factors on this ratio. Such information not only would increase the knowledge of sickle-cell disease but also might shed some light on the general problem of the control of hemoglobin anabolism.