Abstract
Summary
The peripheral blood hemoglobin (β + γ)/α chain synthetic ratio in three homozygous β-thalassemic subjects was shown to increase towards unity as their hematocrits were raised by stepwise transfusion. The observation that the chain synthetic ratio can vary in a given individual is discussed in relation to current understanding about the regulation of hemoglobin synthesis.
This work was supported by The Iran Foundation, Pahlavi University Research Council Grant No. 51-MD-24, W.H.O. Grant No. G3/181/79, and The Ministry of Higher Education of Iran. The authors wish to thank Dr. John N. Loeb for helpful criticism and Miss Nasrin Mohammadi for able technical assistance.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.