Abstract
THE hæmoglobin of the fœtus and the new-born child and the hæmoglobin of older children and adult people can be distinguished by their different resistance against 0·1 N sodium hydroxide. At pH 12 normal hæmoglobin is denatured very rapidly, whereas foetal hæmoglobin is denatured only slowly. By using this difference in denaturating-rate, it is possible to calculate the amounts of foetal and later hæmoglobin present in small samples of blood1. A normal new-born child has only fœtal hæmoglobin. During the early months after birth, this hæmoglobin is gradually replaced by later hæmoglobin, at a rate of a little less than 1 per cent a day, so that after 120 days normally all foetal hæmoglobin has disappeared. In prematurely born babies, later hæmoglobin appears only at the time that the child ought to have been born2.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
References
Brinkman, R., and Jonxis, J. H. P., J. Physiol., 85, 117 (1935).
Jonxis, J. H. P., Maandschr. v. Kindergeneeskunde, 6, 357 (1937).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
JONXIS, J. Fœtal Hæmoglobin and Erythroblastosis. Nature 161, 850 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/161850a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/161850a0
This article is cited by
-
�ber das Auftreten alkaliresistenten H�moglobins bei Kindern mit An�mien
Zeitschrift f�r Kinderheilkunde (1952)
-
Fœtal Hæmoglobin and Erythroblastosis
Nature (1948)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.