Submicroscopic Structure of the Red Cell

Abstract

IN a recent paper, Dervichian, Fournet and Guinier describe experiments on the low-angle scattering of X-rays from red blood cells¹. They show that the scattering curve can be explained as being due to the superposition of two intensity distribution curves : one showing a regular decrease from the centre outwards and the other a distinct maximum at 2θ = 0·025 radians, corresponding to a Bragg spacing of 62 A. The authors conclude from the latter that the hæmoglobin molecules in the red cell are not distributed at random, but that a certain mean distance between neighbouring molecules is frequently realized. These results are the more interesting, since the scattering effects observed can be predicted from the molecular dimensions of hæmoglobin and its concentration in the red cell, as will be shown below.