Blood, 1953, Vol. 8, No. 12, pp. 1061-1066.
© 1953 American Society of Hematology, Inc.
On the Optical Properties of the Hemoglobin
in Microdrepanocytic Disease
A. ASCENZI M.D.1 and
E. SILVESTRONI M.D.1
1 Istituto di Anatomia e Istologia Patologica and the Istituto di Clinica Medica
Generale e Terapia Medica, University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
In analogy with sickle cell anemia of the Negro, white carriers of the sickle cell
trait and patients with microdrepanocytic disease show sickling which is associated with the presence of type S hemoglobin. The sickled cells are birefringent
and the reduced hemoglobin forms tactoids which reveal a striking resemblance
to the sickled erythrocytes.
The mean retardation of each sickled red cell is 7.5 ± 0.15 mµ and the birefringence is approximately 0.0037.
Submitted on January 1, 1953
Accepted on April 30, 1953
