A Moessbauer study of hemoglobin in paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria

The 57Fe Moessbauer spectra of concentrated hemoglobin (Hb) of normal subjects and six patients with Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria (PNH) were studied at 300deg K and 77 K. PNH is a very rate autoimmune hematological disease. The possibility of structural alterations of Hb induced by, or as part of the altered PNH-red cell membrane was the objective of this study. The Moessbauer parameters of the Hb of the normal subjects, both at 300 K and at 77 K, are identical to values previously reported. The PNH-Hb spectra show clear differences. They are wider and more asymmetric. At 77 K, an extra doublet grows in with an isomer shift of 0.425 mm/sec. and a quadrupolar splitting of 1.951 mm/sec. The other two doublets have δ's and ΔQ's slightly, but significantly, different from the corresponding values for normal Hb. These results are rationalized in terms of a population of Hb molecules with structures varying very slightly in a narrow range. The spread in structures manifests itself in a wider and more asymmetric Moessbauer spectrum. (orig.)