title: Erythrocyte membrane protein abnormalities in beta-thalassemia of the Li nationality in Hainan.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the composition of abnormal red cell membrane skeleton.
  
  
  METHODS
  By sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of ghostcorpuscles, we quantified the amount of protein by densitometric evaluation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results showed that in beta-thalassemia, the amount of spectrin, 4.5 protein and globin significantly increased compared with the controls (26.05 +/- 1.46, 21.69 +/- 1.86; 22.87 +/- 5.61, 12.99 +/- 2.33; 15.23 +/- 3.31 and 4.97 +/- 2.73, respectively, P < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data suggest that the erythrocyte membrane protein composition matched with globin in patients with beta-thalassemia of the racial Li minority are different from the normal control. These factors increase rigidity but decrease deformability of the beta-thalassemic red cell membrane, which may lead to hemolytic anemia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Teaching Hospital of Hainan Medical College, Haikou 570102, China.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D004910:Erythrocyte Membrane / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D017086:beta-Thalassemia / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D008565:Membrane Proteins