A Measure of Haemoglobin Instability in Individuals phenotyped as haemoglobin AC, SC and CC by Acetate Electrophoresis.

One of the limitations in haemoglobin electrophoresis technique is the inability to distinguish between stable haemoglobin-C and unstable Haemoglobin-E. Haemoglobins A2, C, E and O Arab migrate together during cellulose acetate electrophoresis and are often not differentiated by most diagnostic laboratories. This study investigated the instability of phenotyped haemoglobin-C individuals and the possibility of haemoglobin-E individual phenotyped as either heterozygous or homozygous haemoglobin-C. Fifty phenotyped blood samples consisting of twenty five haemoglobin-AC, fifteen haemoglobin-SC, and ten haemoglobin-CC were used for this study. Twenty two blood samples phenotyped as haemoglobin-AA served as controls. The blood samples were analyzed for haemoglobin instability using heat instability and isopropanol instability tests. The difference in turbidity of the haemoglobins measured spectrophotometrically before and after heating was taken as a measure of haemoglobin instability. The degree of instability in haemoglobin-AC individuals was insignificant (p>0.05) in relation the controls. A significant (p<0.05) level of instability was found in haemoglobins-SC and CC individuals. Two haemoglobin-AC and one haemoglobin-CC individuals showed very high concentration of haemoglobin instability. They recorded turbid reaction with isopropanol. This suggests Haemoglobin-SE, Haemoglobin-CE or Haemoglobin-EE erroneously phenotyped as haemoglobin-SC and haemoglobin-CC. This study concludes that Haemoglobin-E may be present in Nigeria.