Bovine Fetal Hemoglobin. I. Postnatal Persistence and Relation to Adult Hemoglobins

Abstract

The postnatal persistence of bovine fetal hemoglobin (F) and its relation to the adult hemoglobins A and B were investigated by paper electrophoresis. At birth, F made up 41-100% of the total hemoglobin of 23 calves. The amount of F diminished rapidly and was replaced entirely by hemoglobin A in 14 bull calves and 4 heifer calves at the average ages of 65 and 97 days, respectively. The disappearance of hemoglobin F from the blood of 5 calves (Guernseys, Jerseys, Brown Swiss) was obscured by the simultaneous appearance of hemoglobin B, which has the same electrophoretic mobility as F in the pH 9.0 barbital buffer used. Comparisons of electrophoretic mobilities in the pH range 6.5 - 9.0 showed that hemoglobin A has a greater net positive charge than B and F throughout, but that the net positive charge of hemoglobin B is appreciably greater than that of F only below pH 7.4. Above this pH, B and F migrate on paper electrophoretic strips at essentially the same rate.