Antenatal diagnosis of haemoglobinopathies by Biorex chromatography of haemoglobin.

Biorex chromatograhpy of haemoglobin has been compared to the standard chromatographic separation of radioactive globin chains in 60 fetal blood samples obtained for the antenatal diagnosis of haemoglobinopathies. Biorex chromatography of haemoglobin permitted two measurements, the optical density at 418 nm and the radioactivity incorporated into fetal and adult haemoglobin. The two measurements were highly correlated (r2=0.96) and enabled a distinction between homozygous from heterozygous states of the diseases to be made, particularly in beta thalassaemia. A single column was used for 50 analyses. This fast and very sensitive method is proposed for the antenatal diagnosis of haemoglobinopathies using fetal blood.