Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Electron microscope studies have been performed to investigate the ultrastructural basis of the characteristic golf-ball-like light microscope appearance which develops when the erythrocytes of patients with HbH disease are stained supravitally with brilliant cresyl blue or new methylene blue. The data indicate that the golf-ball appearance resulted from the formation of many spherical or biconvex masses of electron-dense material which were attached to and which bulged the cell membrane. These masses presumably consisted of denatured HbH. A variable proportion of the red cells of the four patients investigated failed to form such membrane-associated inclusions even after treatment with redox dyes for 24 h. Studies of subpopulations of red cells which were separated according to cell age suggested that there was a considerable variation in the HbH content of young red cells and indicated that with increasing cell age there is an increase in the proportion of red cells which do not contain appreciable quantities of HbH.

Original publication

DOI

10.1111/j.1365-2257.1981.tb01309.x

Type

Journal article

Journal

Clinical and laboratory haematology

Publication Date

01/1981

Volume

3

Pages

51 - 60

Keywords

Erythrocytes, Inclusion Bodies, Humans, Thalassemia, Hemoglobins, Abnormal, Hemoglobin H, Microscopy, Electron, Oxidation-Reduction, Coloring Agents